Stories of King Sean

[Specialist290]

Well, this is a pleasant surprise indeed! I come back to the forum for a brief visit, and I find that one of the AAR writers who was active when I was first seriously getting into Paradox's games is still among us, and starting on a new tale to boot!

You certainly have a way of creating a scene even though you're only painting the shadows, so to speak. You've barely covered anything but the smallest skeleton of Sean's reign, but you've already revealed so much about his life and character even through little incidental allusions. It's like assembling a jigsaw puzzle where you know what the general shape of the picture is supposed to be, but you still have to look carefully at the pieces you're given to figure out where they fit in the whole.

I also have to admit a certain fondness for the premise, since one of my favorite playthroughs within recent memory came from an Ireland start (867 Tara, this time) and produced some rather interesting characters of its own.

Keep up the good work, and glad to see you around and writing again!

 

[volksmarschall]

You should have spiced up the semi-poetry a bit more!

It needs the flair of Suleiman the Magnificent!

Throne of my lonely niche, my wealth, my love, my moonlight.
My most sincere friend, my confidant, my very existence, my Sultan, my one and only love.
The most beautiful among the beautiful…
My springtime, my merry faced love, my daytime, my sweetheart, laughing leaf…
My plants, my sweet, my rose, the one only who does not distress me in this world…
My Constantinople, my Caraman, the earth of my Anatolia
My Badakhshan, my Baghdad and Khorasan
My woman of the beautiful hair, my love of the slanted brow, my love of eyes full of mischief…
I’ll sing your praises always
I, lover of the tormented heart, Muhibbi of the eyes full of tears, I am happy.
-Suleiman's poem to his wife, Hürrem Sultan

Anyways, no, I thought it was just fine, in fact - it made me think of this poem for whatever reason!

 

[Stuyvesant]

"Shaxbeard"? <Raises an eybrow>

What troubles have befallen Britannia that people can't even properly spell their own names anymore? No Norman invasion, or something?

Anyway, a nice change of pace. As Specialist290 points out, you hint at a lot, but there isn't much firm information here. Which leads to the brain to do a lot of filling in the pieces in a desperate attempt to spot the tiger in the tall grass make sense of it. While it's hard to know what exactly happened (we're talking about a part of a latter-day play), it certainly creates a mood, one where Lucija seems to be suffering much, and one where - in the end - newly-minted King Sean nobly tries to make amends. It fits the propaganda of King Sean, but is it true? Perhaps further pieces of this puzzle will give us a firmer idea.

A good update.

 

[aldriq]

Well, only adopted Bristolian, and strictly speaking Bristol has been its own county for a few centuries... but I visit south of the Avon far more often than north of it

Great chapter, I actually watched the gloriously candle-lit production of The Duchess of Malfi on BBC last week, I could easily imagine Gemma Arterton playing Lucija's role in that scene... I imagine we will find out about Sean's sins, and Lucija's fate, eventually.

"Shaxbeard"? <Raises an eybrow>

What troubles have befallen Britannia that people can't even properly spell their own names anymore? No Norman invasion, or something?

My theory is that in this timeline the English printers were not only Flemish, but drunk as well

 

[stnylan]

Specialist290 Good to have you along, sir. I must admit, the nice thing about these starting scenes is that I can indeed hint at the wider whole - it makes for fun writing. Of course, all the "authors" here are also biased, which is another thing I have fun with.

volksmarschall Well, I was restricted myself to pentameter mostly (though I didn't expend the time to make it properly iambic). On the one hand even a relatively loose meter structure such as thing is a bit like a prison, on the other hand it is also like a skeleton - it holds things together. Certainly a different writing challenge anyway.

Stuyvesant I am fairly sure (though from memory) Shaxbeard or something very similar is actually one of the actual variants of the spelling of Shakespeare's name. I kind of imagine some poor London clerk trying to work out what on earth the country-bumpkin with a thick rural accent just told him, and doing the best he could

The "inspiration" for this speech, as it were, is that when Sean became King his wife loathed him. Well, they were -40 or something like that.

aldriqWell, I am not a native Ciderman I must admit, Taunton is just where I have been washed up for the last decade.

Mmm, I really should watch more television. That production sounds excellent.

No need to hire Flemish drunkards - I am quite sure there are enough English inebriates to man the printing presses!

All Working on the next update, which will hopefully follow in the next few days.

 

[Asantahene]

I'm liking the cut of this tales gib. Count me in stnylan!

 

[stnylan]

I'm liking the cut of this tales gib. Count me in stnylan!

Welcome aboard!

 

[stnylan]

Stories of King Sean
4 - Blood-sport​

A very great deal of fiction has been written about King Sean, especially in the last fifty or so years. The following excerpt is as historically accurate in the details as it can be, though allowances must of course be made.

His head hurts. That is the first thing that Domnall knows, as he strives again to consciousness. He had been riding his horse, hot in pursuit of a handsome hart that had strayed from the herd. In doing so he had left most of the rabble behind, though he had noticed the blasted bishop was still following, albeit far enough behind for him to enjoy the thrill of the whistling air and the coming kill. Then, it all went wrong, the struggle to control a rebellious steed, violently rearing and screaming its death.

His leg hurts as well, he realises, and it feels stuck. The pain in his head is worse, though, like a hammer against his skull. A weaker man might give in the swooning blackness he could almost see behind his eye-lids, but he was no ordinary man. Domnall opens his eyes, the light adding to his pain, but he can see the arrow in his horse's rump. The beast is still alive, scrabbling on the ground, but the sounds are quieting. “Just die,” Domnall snarls at his former mount, as each of its movements sends new waves of pain from his leg. Damn, but that brat of a son will be laughing about this.

He looks about, and to hell with it, there he is, dismounting just a few yards away. “Sean, get over here!” he yells. His son draws his sword, and with a swift cut kills the horse. The thick smell of blood fills the air. Sean stabs the sword into the ground, and hurries around to kneel by his father.

“Father, are you badly hurt?” he asks, his brows furrowed.

“What does it look like you fool!” Really, the boy was a simpleton. Still, in truth the question might have some merit. “In pain, but no gut wound, thank the Lord. Now if only my leg were free we could see how I truly fare.”

“I see,” Sean says, looking up and down at the injured king. “I am sorry father, I had hoped it would not come to this.”

“What do you mean?” Domnall says through gritting teeth, only seeing the dagger too late as his son shoves the blade deep into his chest.

For once, his son has left him speechless. He coughs, and he can taste blood in his mouth. As the blackness finally takes him he hears his son mutter, “Lord forgive me.”

* * * * *​

“You are sure,” the Bishop asks his black-cowled servitor.

“Yes, Holy Father. There can be no doubt. If I may show you?” The bishop hesitates for a moment, and nods. “If you come closer, Holy Father. No doubt the horse caused great injury in the fall, and you can see here a bloody knock on the head – but not I think a fatal one. Enough to daze him, but probably a poultice and rest, and in a week or so he is back to his old self.”

The bishop looks at the corpse laid out on the catafalque, not yet stripped of its finery to be washed before the funeral. “There has to be more,” he says, “for you to mis-doubt the cause of his death.”

“Excuse me, there is Holy Father. I did not spot it at first, but if I draw back his tunic like so, you can see the wound here,” he says, putting his index finger just below the cut flesh. “Straight into the heart, Holy Father. He would not have been able to defend himself.”

The bishop leans forward, and taps the dagger-mark. He closes his eyes, and sighs. “O woe to Ireland,” he mutters, “for only one hand could have been behind this blade.” The bishop rocks back, his eyes still closed, his lips murmuring in prayer.

“Holy Father, what do you mean?”

The bishop opens his eyes, and regards the monk a moment. “You should know, for it may matter with how the body is disposed. Prince Sean was the first to the side his father, after his father's horse fell. I was the second, and by the time I arrived and offered to make arrangements for the body, the King was dead.”

The man is silent a moment. “That means...”

“It means we have a parricide as king.” The bishop sighs again. “I fear the next little while will not be pleasant.” He places a hand on the man's shoulder. “But you have done well, Brother. Please continue to prepare the body. We must be strong, and trust in the Lord.”

“Yes, Holy Father,” the man bowed. He began disrobing the corpse, barely noticing the bishop's guard who came to stand by the door.

 

[Specialist290]

Well, that's an interesting little complication, although I'd assume that since hunting "accidents" seemed to be rather common, it was only a matter of time before someone made the logical leap.

Regardless of whether it reflects the true account of Domnall's death, though, I'd venture a guess that it's foreshadowing a future trend of friction between King Sean and the Church, and this would be as good a reason for it as any.

 

[Asantahene]

Yes how did that work in the game? Is it possible to actually be assassinated by your own son?

 

[Specialist290]

Yes how did that work in the game? Is it possible to actually be assassinated by your own son?

I've had it happen to me once as the result of a plot, though it was in an older patch and he started the game already landed.

 

[GreatUberGeek]

Subscribed! This is a very interesting and well-written AAR, stnylan. I really like the format you've made, with all these little anecdotes. So, Sean possibly killed his father, and the church knows? Was there a kinslayer trait involved at all? King Sean seems to be rather...rapscallion-ish.

 

[Stuyvesant]

Most interesting... From a towering legend, a faithful lover to his first wife (of many), a bookish man of scholarly inclination... From all that, we go to a man who (it is implied) plotted to have his father assassinated and when the job was botched, did not hesitate to finish the foul deed himself. It would fit with the nimble mind on display in the very first tale of (the future) King Sean being asked by his father how we would like to die, but on the other hand it displays a ruthless streak that has gone unmentioned so far.

By the way, what is 'parricide'? The killing of parrots? Didn't know they were indigenous to 11th/12th century Ireland.

 

[GreatUberGeek]

By the way, what is 'parricide'? The killing of parrots? Didn't know they were indigenous to 11th/12th century Ireland.

I thought it was a simple mispelling of patricide, but maybe it's actually how you describe someone who has killed their father. Parricide is an interesting idea nonetheless.

 

[Specialist290]

I've been wondering that myself, actually. Looking it up on Wikipedia leads me to believe it's essentially a synonym for "kinslayer" as we'd understand it.

 

[stnylan]

Asantahene This occurred because there was very bad blood between father and son. Apart from anything else, I refused to grant Sean a fief of his own, so he loathed Domnall for that. Eventually he started a plot to kill his father, which succeeded.

Specialist290 Actually this is a death very much inspired by the game. As I recall (I am doing this entirely from memory - no notes) the flavour text of the event that fired was concerning hunting.

GreatUberGeek Great to have you along, and very many thanks for the compliments. Indeed, Sean started his reign with the Kinslayer trait - which made things slightly interesting, as it were.

Stuyvesant I think this whole episode is one of those things that really made me want to write this AAR. I mean, here you have a man who starts his rule by killing his father - that is just such a powerful thing in the background. No doubt it is part of what has totally hooked me atm to CK2.

As Specialist relates, Parricide is a term to mean someone who kills one (perhaps both!) of their parents.

All Hoping to have the next update out in the next day or two, but usual caveats apply.

 

[stnylan]

Stories of King Sean

5 - If only my brother were to die​

This next entry is from the rather informative article “If only my brother were to die: Dynastic Relations in High Mediaeval Britannia” by I. Stuyvesant. This critical article helped reform much of the thinking about the events of these times, by reminding many academics that politics was not so much national, as familial, for much of this time period – especially so outside of England. This excerpt discusses the particular case from which the article derives its title.

Given the many achievements of his reign, it is remarkable how fragile King Sean’s situation was when he claimed Tara from his father. There was, of course, the stain of being a parricide – but for all the consequences of that situation, there were avenues open for rehabilitation. The new king however had one far more significant problem, one which had no easy solution: he had no heir, despite being married for several years.

Unreliable dramatists, and their followers ever since, have constructed an idea of a husband separated from his wife by the cruelty of the father. While there are relatively few accounts surviving from that era, even those that paint the blackest possible picture of King Domnall do not include this forcible separation amongst his list of crimes. The simple truth seems to have been that Queen Lucija had trouble conceiving. What we do know, from at least two different sources, is that King Sean spent the early part of his reign very concerned about the activities of his sister.

We know very little of Elienor Ua Cheinnselaig. The second child of King Domnall of Tara, she was married young to Malcolm, the Duke of Moray. In the parlance of the time their union was fruitful. She is mentioned but rarely in chronicles, where she seems to be assigned the traditionally positive images for a lady of the time: virtue and charity.

There are elements of steel in these accounts though, and these are most present in the chronicles from Ireland. Indeed the Merchant of Trim baldly states that Elienor actively sought her brother’s death, for if he died her own son would have come to inherit both Tara and Moray. “If only my brother were to die, my son would rise like David in this new Jerusalem,” she is reputed to have said.

The chronicles claim there were several attempts on King Sean’s life, though a careful examination suggests they may be multiplying one attempt into several. It seems at least plausible that Elienor may have had a hand in this. A perceived threat from Scotland also gives an answer to one of the more vexatious questions that have beset scholars of King Sean’s reign: why did he spend so much time devoted to the matters of Ulster for the earlier portion of his reign – and in particular with Tyrconnell.

In the event, of course, King Sean and Queen Lucija did produce an heir, and after the birth of Fiachnae (and later Tadg) it appears the threat lessened considerably. This sparks a further thought – that has gone more or less un-noticed in the work I have read: given how he came to the throne and this early threat to his life, was King Sean’s greatest achievement not the unification of Ireland, but rather the dynastic stability he bestowed to his successors?

 

[Specialist290]

Some quite interesting insight into the dynastic politics of the era. I wonder how different Irish history might have been if Sean had indeed died childless in those early years (though I'm sure in-universe, someone has already speculated at quite some length).

Hoping to see more, as always!

 

[Asantahene]

Yes the worries of a barren marriage, or one where children are produced late eh? That's one of the things I love about this game: how you sit fretting about the heir that won't come :angry:

 

[Idhrendur]

I just have to express that I'm loving these stories!