The Italian Boot (A Sicily HIP AAR)
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Thanks very much, Asantahene.
Welcome aboard, Mourn you are now reading a AAR that has been going on for nearly 9 months and less then 20 chapters have been written covering over 50 years of history.
Joking aside thanks for reading.
I have a date for when this AAR will return from the shadows, Sunday 12th September folks pencil it in on your calanders. Weekend updates from here on out due to schoolwork, with updates happening every week. (Hopefully)
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The Reign of Tancred De Huatville - Chapter VIII Intrigue and a Tournament 1119-1121
Birth and Death
The year 1119 began, and soon news reached the royal court, that William had sired yet another child she was born with a clubfoot, and christened Eleonora.
Shortly thereafter, Tancred was able to persuade the nobility of Sicily to allow the realm to become even more centralized under him provided more order and stability to the Kingdom of Sicily.
With birth it seems, death comes as well as Hermine, former queen of Castile and wife of Rey Blasco, was found to have died of pneumonia. She was much loved by the commons and the nobles of Spain for her virtues, and had sired three sons who became kings. When he heard of her death, Tancred ordered that a statue be made to honour the memory of his sister.
Intrigue and a tournament
As with any medieval nation, intrigue was commonplace, and Tancred decided to destabilize the Muslim realm of the Ziryun Sultanate to start in motion, a plan to claim lands in Africa.
Meanwhile, in less then a year, the forces of France had been smashed by the HRE, and France was now back under the control of Kaiser Gebhard. France it seemed would never be independent.
Tancred then decided to please the commons and his own vassals, by holding a grand tournament, the cost of this venture nearly brought the kingdom to bankruptcy, and so Tancred at the behest of his advisers reluctantly expelled the Jews from Sicily to gain funds.
The tournament itself was a resounding success, with the commons praising Tancred for giving them a break from their daily lives and the Nobility gaining newfound respect for him. Three warriors ended up taking first, second and third place. Gerald de Amico, who was arguably the best warrior within Sicily and marshal for his brother the Duke of Taranto took first place. Walter De Brionne, who somehow managed to take second place while being a glutton and having gonorrhoea took second place, while in third place came Enrico De Hautville, whose good locks and fighting skill, won him the admiration of many women.
Shortly after the Tournament’s conclusion, Richard, one of Tancred’s sons came of age, a good diplomat but not without flaws he was married to the Queen of Georgia matrilineally.
Following this in October 1121, the Sultan of the Ziryun Sultanate, was slain at his banquet, by poisoned wine, though it was quickly found out that Tancred had been behind the assassination…
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And I am back, enjoy probably the shortest chapter I have written for this AAR and I will see you guys next week.
Birth and Death
The year 1119 began, and soon news reached the royal court, that William had sired yet another child she was born with a clubfoot, and christened Eleonora.
Shortly thereafter, Tancred was able to persuade the nobility of Sicily to allow the realm to become even more centralized under him provided more order and stability to the Kingdom of Sicily.
With birth it seems, death comes as well as Hermine, former queen of Castile and wife of Rey Blasco, was found to have died of pneumonia. She was much loved by the commons and the nobles of Spain for her virtues, and had sired three sons who became kings. When he heard of her death, Tancred ordered that a statue be made to honour the memory of his sister.
Intrigue and a tournament
As with any medieval nation, intrigue was commonplace, and Tancred decided to destabilize the Muslim realm of the Ziryun Sultanate to start in motion, a plan to claim lands in Africa.
Meanwhile, in less then a year, the forces of France had been smashed by the HRE, and France was now back under the control of Kaiser Gebhard. France it seemed would never be independent.
Tancred then decided to please the commons and his own vassals, by holding a grand tournament, the cost of this venture nearly brought the kingdom to bankruptcy, and so Tancred at the behest of his advisers reluctantly expelled the Jews from Sicily to gain funds.
The tournament itself was a resounding success, with the commons praising Tancred for giving them a break from their daily lives and the Nobility gaining newfound respect for him. Three warriors ended up taking first, second and third place. Gerald de Amico, who was arguably the best warrior within Sicily and marshal for his brother the Duke of Taranto took first place. Walter De Brionne, who somehow managed to take second place while being a glutton and having gonorrhoea took second place, while in third place came Enrico De Hautville, whose good locks and fighting skill, won him the admiration of many women.
Shortly after the Tournament’s conclusion, Richard, one of Tancred’s sons came of age, a good diplomat but not without flaws he was married to the Queen of Georgia matrilineally.
Following this in October 1121, the Sultan of the Ziryun Sultanate, was slain at his banquet, by poisoned wine, though it was quickly found out that Tancred had been behind the assassination…
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And I am back, enjoy probably the shortest chapter I have written for this AAR and I will see you guys next week.
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if you mean the naming of Adriaen, its actually Dutch. France got given over to some Dutch family when the Germans took it over and booted out the Capets.
Indeed, part of me wishes that I was 80 of so years ahead, simply for the possibilty of Altair killing Tancred.
Lol, I'm sure he's glad that the two most well known traits of his are his gluttony and the STD he has.
Will the HRE ever collapse into chaos? I will continue to root for France's freedom.
Lol, I'm sure he's glad that the two most well known traits of his are his gluttony and the STD he has.
Will the HRE ever collapse into chaos? I will continue to root for France's freedom.
Well I just found it funny, that he got second place with those traits, so I threw it into the story. As for France, it seems they will never be free.
As for France, it seems they will never be free.
Ugh, that cursed HRE ! Long live the Karling-free Italian boot
Have a good week !
They seem to be somewhat of a punching bag in my AARS.
Ugh, that cursed HRE ! Long live the Karling-free Italian boot
I curse that HRE, every time I load up the game,
I am praying they do not look south to Sicily. I'll try and have a good week though it won't be easy, given schoolwork.
Don't know if I will be able to get a chapter out tommorow, folks. Only played for about an hour today, and got about two years worth of matieral. I want chapters to be larger to speed up this ARR, so the next chapter will be delayed by a bit. In the meantime, I don't normally reccomend ARRS, but I suggest my readers look at Jack45's new AAR White Death https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...-death-a-swedish-finnish-aar-ck2-plus.877939/. It's a nice AAR so far and deserves more comments so go have a read and tell Jack I sent you.
Right folks, time for an update, to put it simply the years 1121-1123 were rather dull where nothing really interesting happened. However I have just finished playing for a year that was actually interesting we have gone to war and finished another objective. So the next chapter will be 1124 onwards and I will try to do it this weekend. Stay tuned folks!
Great AAR so far, Sicily is one of my favorites to play especially in HIP. I am definitely stoked for the coming update!
Welcome Hadhod, hope you have enjoyed the AAR so far. As a side note to all my readers, I now have material for the years 1125 - 1132 covering roughly three chapters. (All on the reign of Tancred who is in his 50's at this point. Hopefully I can finish the Africa chapter tomorrow, and soon start work on the other chapters. Stay tuned folks!
The Reign of Tancred De Hautville, Chapter IX to Africa! 1124 – 1125
To War!
In the three years that followed the death of the Sultan of the Ziryun Sultanate, it was rather quiet in Sicily, little did the populace know that Tancred was planning a war that would at last after many years of peace extend Sicily’s power to the African continent.
The goal for this holy war against the Ziryun sultanate was the Duchy of Ifriqiya, it would serve as a strong foothold for future expansion into Africa, as well as the taking of the Kingdom’s capital Tunis, which would be a blow to the kingdom’s of Ziryun’s prestige.
Thus, the full might of the army of Sicily sailed to the African coast with Tancred at the head of roughly 25,000 men. Requests were sent for aid from England and Norway and both kings agreed to help Tancred in his war.
The siege of Tunis was over within months, and resulted in the capture of the Sultan’s family. Indeed the Sultans forces had yet to even appear let alone strike a blow to Sicily’s armies.
However, that quickly changed as Muslim forces attempted a naval landing on Tancred’s forces. It was a foolish attack however as the 10,000 Muslims were demoralized because of the navel landing, and the battle swung into Tancred’s favor quickly as he was reinforced by his second army who had been besieging the neighboring province as well as 7000 Norsemen who had just arrived to aid Tancred. The battle of Zaghawan was a total failure for the Muslims who lost roughly 8,000 men compared to Tancred losses of 1000. The Muslim stragglers were pursed and massacred at Sabibla ending the Holy war in Tancred’s favor. A foothold on Africa had be acquired and Christianity had struck a blow against Islam.
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Yep, we are in Africa now things can only get better... (hint it's the Byzantines)
To War!
In the three years that followed the death of the Sultan of the Ziryun Sultanate, it was rather quiet in Sicily, little did the populace know that Tancred was planning a war that would at last after many years of peace extend Sicily’s power to the African continent.
The goal for this holy war against the Ziryun sultanate was the Duchy of Ifriqiya, it would serve as a strong foothold for future expansion into Africa, as well as the taking of the Kingdom’s capital Tunis, which would be a blow to the kingdom’s of Ziryun’s prestige.
Thus, the full might of the army of Sicily sailed to the African coast with Tancred at the head of roughly 25,000 men. Requests were sent for aid from England and Norway and both kings agreed to help Tancred in his war.
The siege of Tunis was over within months, and resulted in the capture of the Sultan’s family. Indeed the Sultans forces had yet to even appear let alone strike a blow to Sicily’s armies.
However, that quickly changed as Muslim forces attempted a naval landing on Tancred’s forces. It was a foolish attack however as the 10,000 Muslims were demoralized because of the navel landing, and the battle swung into Tancred’s favor quickly as he was reinforced by his second army who had been besieging the neighboring province as well as 7000 Norsemen who had just arrived to aid Tancred. The battle of Zaghawan was a total failure for the Muslims who lost roughly 8,000 men compared to Tancred losses of 1000. The Muslim stragglers were pursed and massacred at Sabibla ending the Holy war in Tancred’s favor. A foothold on Africa had be acquired and Christianity had struck a blow against Islam.
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Yep, we are in Africa now things can only get better... (hint it's the Byzantines)
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