PART V: Shifting allegiances
Duke Guillaume quickly and firmly secured his power base and the loyalty of his court. His kinsman Boson was allowed to remain the ducal chaplain after reaffirming his loyalty to the new Duke. Guillaume also gave his great-uncle, the former count of Leon Charles, the county of Amiens. Another loyal courtier, the priest Robert d'Anduze, was appointed bishop of Molina.
Duke Guillaume and his wife
Meanwhile, the new child-king of France was suffering new reversals. His Spanish vassals were beginning to rebel, the counts of Zamora and Albarracin the first among them in June 1121. Duke Guillaume tried to take advantage of the situation by expanding his own power base; he approached the independent counts of Viscaya and Valladolid, all that remained of the kingdom of Castile in Iberia, offering them his protection. But the counts, in their hubris, rejected his offers.
Rebuffed, Guillaume looked to secure his own lands. The county of Bearn had recently been inherited by young Philippe, eldest son of the Duke of Flanders. Thus there was a distinct danger of Bearn changing allegiance to Flanders, and Guillaume could not allow that. In March 1122, he dispossessed the boy of his county on account of his youth and inability to govern, and sent him back to Flanders.
At this time, saddled with wars, the French regency raised scutage taxes on the French vassals to extreme levels, and the ducal lands barely brought any profit. Unrest was brewing among the French dukes, and Guillaume knew it was time to act decisively. His first move was alliance with King Jan of Bohemia, who already had been an ally of his father. Finally, a secret letter was dispatched to the old King Heinrich of Germany. A reply soon came, and shortly Guillaume announced that Aquitaine and its vassal domains now swore fealty to the German King. Within days, the kingdom of France had dwindled to a mere shadow of its former glory.
France reduced
In April, Guillaume's wife Alfonsina gave birth to their second daughter, Cecile. In November, the Duke's sister Ermesinde finished her education, and became known as a charismatic diplomat. However, not all was well. The Duke's second son Bernard, trying hard to learn court procedures and intricacies, became very restless and stressed. Also marshal Philippe de Saint-Denis, under pressure from the Duke to prepare the newest campaign, became very depressed and withdrawn. Nonetheless, he was compelled to remain in his position, as the new war was already in the making.
In May 1123, dissatisfied with his brother Henri's lack of male heirs, Guillaume stripped him of the county of Empuries and exiled him and his family to his wife's former court in Provence. To mollify his vassals, the Duke appointed the priest Manasses de Quatrebarbes as the bishop of Bearn. In September, the old steward Robert de Montmorency died of old age. His replacement was one Louis de Garlande, a retired merchant.
September saw the beginning of the Duke's first war. A couple of years prior, the emirate of Cordoba had destroyed the last remnants of the kingdom of Aragon, and now held several important passes in the Pyrenees. Guillaume saw an opportunity when the Moorish emirates began fighting each other, with Cordoba, Sevilla, Badajoz, and Almeria squabbling while the North African Berber kingdoms sent forces to support one side or another. Guillaume led his army to Bearn, and declared war on Cordoba and its vassals, crossing the Pyrenees. Naturally, his new liege, the King of Germany, took the opportunity to join the war. Old Heinrich, however, died on the way to Spain, and German armies, disorganized, made little overall impact, mainly acting as auxiliaries to Guillaume's forces.
While in the south Guillaume's Spanish vassals were fighting off invading Cordoban forces, the Duke marches first to Jaca, former capital of Aragon, taking it in February 1124. In June, Navarra had also fallen to the Duke. Wasting no time, Guillaume had himself crowned King of Navarra on June 9th, thus renouncing his fealty to Germany. The Carolingians now had their first royal crown in two centuries.
All was not well in the ducal family. Bernard, his stress getting the better of him, now completely lost his mind. The boy, nonetheless, continued his education, and was allowed to do as he pleased providing others were not harmed. In July, Guillaume gave the hand of his sister Ermesinde to the steward Louis de Garlande.
After his coronation, Guillaume marched south, and took Cuenca in October. In December 1124 and January 1125, his army faced a series of concerted Moorish attacks in La Mancha, but they were repulsed and the province was taken. Finally on the last day of January, the city of Cordoba itself surrendered to Guillaume's army. The rest of the war was merely mopping up the remaining Cordoban sheiks. Calatrava fell in April and Plasencia in July, ending the age of Cordoban dominance.
Backed by his new royal power, Guillaume laid claim to the independent counties of Viscaya and Valladolid. He soon appointed counts in Empuries and Navarra, and raised the counts of Armagnac and Bourbon to ducal status. He also made his uncle Helie the Duke of Gascogne. Guillaume chose the wealthy, cultured city of Cordoba as his own capital.
In the meantime, Guillaume's mad son Bernard was taking an interest in religion, and the King allowed him to do so. But the ten-year old boy seemed to get bigger ideas than was wise, and started saying that he was the new Messiah, which naturally earned him a condemnation from the Church. The King still did not mind his son's crazy behavior, letting him live out his childish fantasies. Soon Guillaume's wife Alfonsina was again expecting a child, and gave birth to another girl, Adelaide.
Bernard the Mad
In November, the King gave Barcelona to his half-brother, count Ramon of Lleida, and made him Duke of Catalonia. He also raised the count of Navarra to ducal status and gave Plasencia to his kinsman Alire, second son of the chaplain Boson. At this time, the King also entered into alliance with Guy, the King of England. Finally, Guillaume made one last attempt to secure the fealty of the independent Castillan counts, but without success. In January 1126, he marched on the county of Valladolid. The count's small force was easily defeated and Valladolid was taken in May and added to Navarrese fiefs.
Back home, steward Louis de Garlande, in his pride, suggested that his skilled service should be generously rewarded. Guillaume, however, snubbed him by refusing to give him any more than was his due. Louis, rebuffed, was obviously disappointed, but did not press the matter.
Also in April 1126, Veronica de Comminges, the kingdom's chancellor, died of illness. Her widowed husband, the chaplain Boson, was made the new chancellor. In his former place, Guillaume appointed the elderly bishop Jean Lainez as his chaplain. Jean was somewhat irreverent and enjoyed the pleasures of the flesh more than a bishop should, but nonetheless the King sought his religious counsel. Perhaps ironically, perhaps fatefully, Jean fell ill quite soon after his appointment, but still continued in his position.
As soon as Valladolid had fallen, Guillaume marched north on Viscaya. The army of Viscaya, though larger than that of Valladolid, was still defeated without too much trouble, and the county was annexed in January 1127. To prevent any unrest and to placate the Church, Guillaume made Valladolid a bishopric. But regardless, chaplain Jean, pressured by the Church to leave his post, became quite stressed. In April, the King made an old friend of the family, the merchant Claud of Poitiers, count of Cuenca and Duke of Toledo, to the dissatisfaction of some hereditary nobles. Finally in December 1127, the King arranged a marriage between another of his kinsmen, Boson's eldest son Robert, and the daughter of the Duke of Provence, giving the couple the county of Jaca as a wedding present.
In the beginning of 1128, the King decided to secure his Spanish possessions once and for all. Mustering his army, he marched on the sheikdom of Urgell, a vassal of the Berber King of Tunisia. Guillaume's ally, King Guy of England, joined the war as well. In June 1128 Urgell was taken, with the sheik captured and brought to the Navarrese court.
Meanwhile, the Church, still unhappy with Guillaume's choice of chaplain, tried to send him several clerical candidates. These were all however rejected by Guillaume, and his scepticism in religious matters soon became infamous.
The war against Tunisia continued, with Berber armies disembarking in Catalonia and fighting the King's forces. Chancellor Boson, marching from the north to reinforce the royal army, met a superior force in Rosello and was badly defeated. The King, however, sailed from Barcelona before news of this defeat could reach him. In December, Urgell had again fallen to the Berbers just as the King's army disembarked in Bejaija and took it.
Back at the court, the steward Louis de Garlande took advantage of the King's absence to embezzle some funds from the royal demesne, with nobody to stop or punish him. Meanwhile the King's half-brother Gaietan found a wife for himself, Catherine, daughter of the Duke of Burgundy. At the same time, the King's eldest son Philippe finished his military training, and became a brilliant battlefield commander like his father. In January 1129, the King's aunt Jorgia died, and Vexin reverted to the royal demesne.
In February 1129, under the influence of bishop Jean Lainez, Navarra instituted lay investiture, denying the Pope's right to appoint bishops within the kingdom. At the same time, steward Louis de Garlande, now self-proclaimed regent in the King's absence, continued his arbitrary governance, upsetting the burghers of Vexin almost to the point of revolt.
In Africa, the royal army took Tell Atlas in March, and marched eastwards. Medjerda, Tunisia's capital, was taken in July, after which the Berber kingdom collapsed into independent sheikdoms. King Guillaume spent the rest of the year in the region, taking Annaba, Constantine, and Biskra by February 1130.
Back in Spain, things were not going that well. Berber armies continued to advance, taking Lleida from the Duke of Catalonia. An army led by chancellor Boson to relieve Lleida met with stiff opposition, and Boson himself was badly wounded in the fighting.
Battle of Lleida
In Africa, Guillaume engaged in one more campaign. A Bohemian noble, Svatobor of Opava, had some years back inherited the kingdom of Castile. Having lost all Spanish possessions and vassals, he was still holding out in the mountains of Lemdiyya. Guillaume, certain that he now had a better claim to Castile, decided to put an end to the charade. Marching on Lemdiyya, he expelled Svatobor in July 1130. Guillaume, however, was not yet strong enough to claim Castile himself, but it was something for the future.
Guillaume fights the Bohemian pretender
Guillaume returned to Cordoba in August, and immediately began cleaning the house. New counts were appointed in the conquered African lands. Steward Louis de Garlande was relieved of his duties; as he was the King's brother-in-law, he was merely exiled to Africa, and even made Duke of Constantine. The new steward was one Arnaud, a Frankish merchant who had traveled extensively in the Moorish lands of Spain, and knew how to manage them; he was called Al-Rahman by the Moors.
The new steward
At this time, bishop Jean Lainez had died of his illness. Guillaume's new chaplain was Louis d'Auvergne, a noble scion, a duly zealous, militant priest, but proud and hotheaded. At the same time, the King also arranged the marriage of his son Philippe to the eldest daughter of the Duke of Toulouse.
The new chaplain
Before engaging in the next war, Guillaume gave Geraud, a French knight, the county of Asturias de Oviedo and made him Duke of Asturias. Soon, the royal army gathered in Barcelona and was ready to march on the Berber holdings in Catalonia. In March 1131, Lleida was again liberated from the Berbers, and in June, Urgell was liberated, thus securing the Pyrenees. Lleida was given back to Duke Ramon, while Urgell was given to Demetri, and Occitan noble, who was also made Duke of the Spanish Marche. Guillaume also made his mad son Bernard the count of Viscaya, despite protests from the Church.
The recent marriages of the Vermandois were designed to acquire new lands in France, and Guillaume decided to help things along. In June, the eldest son of the Duke of Burgundy was thrown from a tower by unknown assaillants. It could not be connected to Navarra, of course, but nonetheless soon an attempt was made on the life of Guillaume's eldest son Philippe. The assassins were caught and confessed to having been hired by the Burgundians.
The King's taste for military conquests was still strong, and in early 1132 he laid claim to the independent county of Denia, marching on it. The count's small army was quickly defeated and Denia was taken in May. Guillaume was now undisputedly strongest monarch in Spain, seconded only by the emirate of Sevilla. He was soon looking for new targets...
----------------------------
Vermandois genealogy updated to May 1132. Sharp-eyed viewers will notice a budding Arab branch of the dynasty.
Duke Guillaume quickly and firmly secured his power base and the loyalty of his court. His kinsman Boson was allowed to remain the ducal chaplain after reaffirming his loyalty to the new Duke. Guillaume also gave his great-uncle, the former count of Leon Charles, the county of Amiens. Another loyal courtier, the priest Robert d'Anduze, was appointed bishop of Molina.
Duke Guillaume and his wife
Meanwhile, the new child-king of France was suffering new reversals. His Spanish vassals were beginning to rebel, the counts of Zamora and Albarracin the first among them in June 1121. Duke Guillaume tried to take advantage of the situation by expanding his own power base; he approached the independent counts of Viscaya and Valladolid, all that remained of the kingdom of Castile in Iberia, offering them his protection. But the counts, in their hubris, rejected his offers.
Rebuffed, Guillaume looked to secure his own lands. The county of Bearn had recently been inherited by young Philippe, eldest son of the Duke of Flanders. Thus there was a distinct danger of Bearn changing allegiance to Flanders, and Guillaume could not allow that. In March 1122, he dispossessed the boy of his county on account of his youth and inability to govern, and sent him back to Flanders.
At this time, saddled with wars, the French regency raised scutage taxes on the French vassals to extreme levels, and the ducal lands barely brought any profit. Unrest was brewing among the French dukes, and Guillaume knew it was time to act decisively. His first move was alliance with King Jan of Bohemia, who already had been an ally of his father. Finally, a secret letter was dispatched to the old King Heinrich of Germany. A reply soon came, and shortly Guillaume announced that Aquitaine and its vassal domains now swore fealty to the German King. Within days, the kingdom of France had dwindled to a mere shadow of its former glory.
France reduced
In April, Guillaume's wife Alfonsina gave birth to their second daughter, Cecile. In November, the Duke's sister Ermesinde finished her education, and became known as a charismatic diplomat. However, not all was well. The Duke's second son Bernard, trying hard to learn court procedures and intricacies, became very restless and stressed. Also marshal Philippe de Saint-Denis, under pressure from the Duke to prepare the newest campaign, became very depressed and withdrawn. Nonetheless, he was compelled to remain in his position, as the new war was already in the making.
In May 1123, dissatisfied with his brother Henri's lack of male heirs, Guillaume stripped him of the county of Empuries and exiled him and his family to his wife's former court in Provence. To mollify his vassals, the Duke appointed the priest Manasses de Quatrebarbes as the bishop of Bearn. In September, the old steward Robert de Montmorency died of old age. His replacement was one Louis de Garlande, a retired merchant.
September saw the beginning of the Duke's first war. A couple of years prior, the emirate of Cordoba had destroyed the last remnants of the kingdom of Aragon, and now held several important passes in the Pyrenees. Guillaume saw an opportunity when the Moorish emirates began fighting each other, with Cordoba, Sevilla, Badajoz, and Almeria squabbling while the North African Berber kingdoms sent forces to support one side or another. Guillaume led his army to Bearn, and declared war on Cordoba and its vassals, crossing the Pyrenees. Naturally, his new liege, the King of Germany, took the opportunity to join the war. Old Heinrich, however, died on the way to Spain, and German armies, disorganized, made little overall impact, mainly acting as auxiliaries to Guillaume's forces.
While in the south Guillaume's Spanish vassals were fighting off invading Cordoban forces, the Duke marches first to Jaca, former capital of Aragon, taking it in February 1124. In June, Navarra had also fallen to the Duke. Wasting no time, Guillaume had himself crowned King of Navarra on June 9th, thus renouncing his fealty to Germany. The Carolingians now had their first royal crown in two centuries.
All was not well in the ducal family. Bernard, his stress getting the better of him, now completely lost his mind. The boy, nonetheless, continued his education, and was allowed to do as he pleased providing others were not harmed. In July, Guillaume gave the hand of his sister Ermesinde to the steward Louis de Garlande.
After his coronation, Guillaume marched south, and took Cuenca in October. In December 1124 and January 1125, his army faced a series of concerted Moorish attacks in La Mancha, but they were repulsed and the province was taken. Finally on the last day of January, the city of Cordoba itself surrendered to Guillaume's army. The rest of the war was merely mopping up the remaining Cordoban sheiks. Calatrava fell in April and Plasencia in July, ending the age of Cordoban dominance.
Backed by his new royal power, Guillaume laid claim to the independent counties of Viscaya and Valladolid. He soon appointed counts in Empuries and Navarra, and raised the counts of Armagnac and Bourbon to ducal status. He also made his uncle Helie the Duke of Gascogne. Guillaume chose the wealthy, cultured city of Cordoba as his own capital.
In the meantime, Guillaume's mad son Bernard was taking an interest in religion, and the King allowed him to do so. But the ten-year old boy seemed to get bigger ideas than was wise, and started saying that he was the new Messiah, which naturally earned him a condemnation from the Church. The King still did not mind his son's crazy behavior, letting him live out his childish fantasies. Soon Guillaume's wife Alfonsina was again expecting a child, and gave birth to another girl, Adelaide.
Bernard the Mad
In November, the King gave Barcelona to his half-brother, count Ramon of Lleida, and made him Duke of Catalonia. He also raised the count of Navarra to ducal status and gave Plasencia to his kinsman Alire, second son of the chaplain Boson. At this time, the King also entered into alliance with Guy, the King of England. Finally, Guillaume made one last attempt to secure the fealty of the independent Castillan counts, but without success. In January 1126, he marched on the county of Valladolid. The count's small force was easily defeated and Valladolid was taken in May and added to Navarrese fiefs.
Back home, steward Louis de Garlande, in his pride, suggested that his skilled service should be generously rewarded. Guillaume, however, snubbed him by refusing to give him any more than was his due. Louis, rebuffed, was obviously disappointed, but did not press the matter.
Also in April 1126, Veronica de Comminges, the kingdom's chancellor, died of illness. Her widowed husband, the chaplain Boson, was made the new chancellor. In his former place, Guillaume appointed the elderly bishop Jean Lainez as his chaplain. Jean was somewhat irreverent and enjoyed the pleasures of the flesh more than a bishop should, but nonetheless the King sought his religious counsel. Perhaps ironically, perhaps fatefully, Jean fell ill quite soon after his appointment, but still continued in his position.
As soon as Valladolid had fallen, Guillaume marched north on Viscaya. The army of Viscaya, though larger than that of Valladolid, was still defeated without too much trouble, and the county was annexed in January 1127. To prevent any unrest and to placate the Church, Guillaume made Valladolid a bishopric. But regardless, chaplain Jean, pressured by the Church to leave his post, became quite stressed. In April, the King made an old friend of the family, the merchant Claud of Poitiers, count of Cuenca and Duke of Toledo, to the dissatisfaction of some hereditary nobles. Finally in December 1127, the King arranged a marriage between another of his kinsmen, Boson's eldest son Robert, and the daughter of the Duke of Provence, giving the couple the county of Jaca as a wedding present.
In the beginning of 1128, the King decided to secure his Spanish possessions once and for all. Mustering his army, he marched on the sheikdom of Urgell, a vassal of the Berber King of Tunisia. Guillaume's ally, King Guy of England, joined the war as well. In June 1128 Urgell was taken, with the sheik captured and brought to the Navarrese court.
Meanwhile, the Church, still unhappy with Guillaume's choice of chaplain, tried to send him several clerical candidates. These were all however rejected by Guillaume, and his scepticism in religious matters soon became infamous.
The war against Tunisia continued, with Berber armies disembarking in Catalonia and fighting the King's forces. Chancellor Boson, marching from the north to reinforce the royal army, met a superior force in Rosello and was badly defeated. The King, however, sailed from Barcelona before news of this defeat could reach him. In December, Urgell had again fallen to the Berbers just as the King's army disembarked in Bejaija and took it.
Back at the court, the steward Louis de Garlande took advantage of the King's absence to embezzle some funds from the royal demesne, with nobody to stop or punish him. Meanwhile the King's half-brother Gaietan found a wife for himself, Catherine, daughter of the Duke of Burgundy. At the same time, the King's eldest son Philippe finished his military training, and became a brilliant battlefield commander like his father. In January 1129, the King's aunt Jorgia died, and Vexin reverted to the royal demesne.
In February 1129, under the influence of bishop Jean Lainez, Navarra instituted lay investiture, denying the Pope's right to appoint bishops within the kingdom. At the same time, steward Louis de Garlande, now self-proclaimed regent in the King's absence, continued his arbitrary governance, upsetting the burghers of Vexin almost to the point of revolt.
In Africa, the royal army took Tell Atlas in March, and marched eastwards. Medjerda, Tunisia's capital, was taken in July, after which the Berber kingdom collapsed into independent sheikdoms. King Guillaume spent the rest of the year in the region, taking Annaba, Constantine, and Biskra by February 1130.
Back in Spain, things were not going that well. Berber armies continued to advance, taking Lleida from the Duke of Catalonia. An army led by chancellor Boson to relieve Lleida met with stiff opposition, and Boson himself was badly wounded in the fighting.
Battle of Lleida
In Africa, Guillaume engaged in one more campaign. A Bohemian noble, Svatobor of Opava, had some years back inherited the kingdom of Castile. Having lost all Spanish possessions and vassals, he was still holding out in the mountains of Lemdiyya. Guillaume, certain that he now had a better claim to Castile, decided to put an end to the charade. Marching on Lemdiyya, he expelled Svatobor in July 1130. Guillaume, however, was not yet strong enough to claim Castile himself, but it was something for the future.
Guillaume fights the Bohemian pretender
Guillaume returned to Cordoba in August, and immediately began cleaning the house. New counts were appointed in the conquered African lands. Steward Louis de Garlande was relieved of his duties; as he was the King's brother-in-law, he was merely exiled to Africa, and even made Duke of Constantine. The new steward was one Arnaud, a Frankish merchant who had traveled extensively in the Moorish lands of Spain, and knew how to manage them; he was called Al-Rahman by the Moors.
The new steward
At this time, bishop Jean Lainez had died of his illness. Guillaume's new chaplain was Louis d'Auvergne, a noble scion, a duly zealous, militant priest, but proud and hotheaded. At the same time, the King also arranged the marriage of his son Philippe to the eldest daughter of the Duke of Toulouse.
The new chaplain
Before engaging in the next war, Guillaume gave Geraud, a French knight, the county of Asturias de Oviedo and made him Duke of Asturias. Soon, the royal army gathered in Barcelona and was ready to march on the Berber holdings in Catalonia. In March 1131, Lleida was again liberated from the Berbers, and in June, Urgell was liberated, thus securing the Pyrenees. Lleida was given back to Duke Ramon, while Urgell was given to Demetri, and Occitan noble, who was also made Duke of the Spanish Marche. Guillaume also made his mad son Bernard the count of Viscaya, despite protests from the Church.
The recent marriages of the Vermandois were designed to acquire new lands in France, and Guillaume decided to help things along. In June, the eldest son of the Duke of Burgundy was thrown from a tower by unknown assaillants. It could not be connected to Navarra, of course, but nonetheless soon an attempt was made on the life of Guillaume's eldest son Philippe. The assassins were caught and confessed to having been hired by the Burgundians.
The King's taste for military conquests was still strong, and in early 1132 he laid claim to the independent county of Denia, marching on it. The count's small army was quickly defeated and Denia was taken in May. Guillaume was now undisputedly strongest monarch in Spain, seconded only by the emirate of Sevilla. He was soon looking for new targets...
----------------------------
Vermandois genealogy updated to May 1132. Sharp-eyed viewers will notice a budding Arab branch of the dynasty.