The Great Restoration
A Commentary on Medieval England through a composition of English Histories, Folklore and Records
A Commentary on Medieval England through a composition of English Histories, Folklore and Records
The question is often asked, what is it to be English in the Middle Ages?Why were the English so successful despite being from a poor country with little resources or manpower? Often we hear of French, German or Spanish sources condemning the English for their, “...damnable force of arms and skill.” But where does this skill even come from?
To answer that question we must look at the history of England and it's Normano-Saxon Kings, analyze their decisions, their personalities and then how that affected the noble and common men of England.To do so I have compiled sources, ranging from histories from English and their adversaries, folklores from the common people of the British Isles and records from the Church and, personally my favorite source, Edwin the Chronicler, the great advisor of King Alfred II and his son King William II.
To get something out of the way I would like to comment on the supposed Anglo-Saxon “Reconquest” of England. Texts such as, “The Reconquest: An Anglo-Saxon Crusade,” describe the entire affair as an Anglo-Saxon force of arms uniting against Norman conquerors. The modern histories, as well, paint the reconquest as the act of freeing the native Anglo-Saxons from the foreign, French speaking Norman elite.
This is a travesty of historical records.
The Normans rules England for nearly fifty years, during that time King William the Conqueror and his son King Richard I replaced many of the local lords of he country with Norman knights and lords. The Anglo-Saxons themselves, despite a few minor uprisings never sought to truly replace the Normans, mainly because the main enemies of the Normans were destroyed. The Godwins were purged by the Normans, namely through the great blood feud between them and the House of Wessex (more on that later). The native English cared little whether it was Normans or Anglo-Saxons who ruled them and, despite what popular culture and movies such as , “Reconquest,” and, “The Conqueror and the Exile,” say there was no supposed “Anglo-Saxon Extermination.”
The term “Reconquest,” itself is false. More accurate would be the, “Restoration,” and that would not apply to an Anglo-Saxon England but to the House of Wessex. Indeed, King Edgar the Restorer was the last King of England that could be called Anglo-Saxon. His son, Alfred II, was warded by Edgar's close friend William the Conqueror! Indeed, there is a whole saga written by Chaucer regarding the close friendship between William and Edgar and, subsequently, Edgar and King Richard (at least before what Chaucer calls, “...a betrayal most foul, yet most necessary even to himself, the King Eadgar.”). Alfred II, called in some records, “Alfred the Norman,” was raised very much as a Norman. His mother, Adele de Normandie, was the Conqueror's daughter and therefore Alfred was half Norman.
I only point these facts out so you, as a reader, can understand that England, despite it's reconquest by an Anglo-Saxon King, was not returned to the same state that it had been before the Norman Conquest of 1067. Instead what occurred was a mix of cultures as Anglo-Saxons, once more brought to the forefront of English nobility, sought to gain Norman and French estates and adopt Frankish customs. The organization of England, both militarily and domestically was utterly changed to a hybrid. England was not Anglo-Saxon nor was it fully Normano-Frankish. It was, as I have detailed in other essays and texts, “Normano-Saxon,” culture. This Normano-Saxon would eventually evolve into a native English culture. Thank you for reading this foreword and I hope you enjoy the text.
OOC: This will be a primarily text driven AAR that is told as though it is an academic commentary. I will provide some screens of maps, armies, etc, etc, but don't expect huge quantities of in game pics. However, there WILL be non-game pics to break up the walls of text. Occasionally there will be an odd update that primarily focuses on the study of England and it's relations with other nations, it's domestic policies or things of that nature. My house rules are simple:
1. No utterly unhistorical marriages for breeding purposes. I don't care if the Russian princess near Finland has genius, strong and midas touched, no Normano-Saxon prince or King would marry them, marriages are first and foremost alliances.
2. Historical expansion. You won't see English movements into Spain or an invasion of Greece, I will try to endeavor to make my movements as plausible as possible. That said, this is a form of alternate history and thus you have to leave room for the fact that things happen sometimes. If I inherit Apulia, there is nothing I can do. Same goes with AI expansion. If an AI nation goes rogue and starts doing weird expansion I WILL load them up and do everything in my power to remove that part of their territory. Clean and historical borders are the name of the game.
3. No reloads, no cheats etc etc, defeats the purpose. This also applies to the House of Wessex. Despite the Wessexs being the focus of the AAR ultimately it is the the alternate-history England that I'm documenting.
4. Enjoy myself! I love history books and I love English history! Don't be surprised if I go all out on the alternate-historical documentary bit.
Enjoy folks!
Edit: Btw I'm using the SWMH mod with a few sub-mods and my own modifications (mostly aesthetic).
