The Noble Lives: A Chronicle of the Kingdom of Castile

[Secret Master]

Originally posted by MrT
Oh, BTW SM, some troll went around rating every thread a 1 while you were away. Here's a *bump* to help this one regain its deserved rating.

Hope your holiday was nice and you've returned with a stack of great ideas for your next 500 posts on this thread (which ought to take you up to 1550 or so )

Oh, is that what happend? I just thought a bunch of people gave me 4's in their honest opinions. Damn trolls.... Where's a moderator when you need one?

 

[unmerged(6777)]

Now there's an interesting question/challenge.

It is plausible that Isabella could elect to thumb her nose at Christianity's princepts in general and court a friendship with the Moors. To hold the country together will require a large degree of tollerance towards the Sunni nations and this might eventually develop into a rather interesting notion whereby Castile could even find itself considering itself an enemy of the pope, and pursue the conquest of as much of the Christian Med. as you can get your hands on. To do this, a general policy of cooperation (or at very least non-interference) could stand her in good stead.

This would lead, also, to a rather unusual treatment of the Torquemada events and to a high degree of conflict between the crown and the church. I'd have to try playing it to see what would actually happen, but I imagine that the stability hits, etc. could be very damaging for a while.

Your comment, though, leads me to believe that you didn't completely do a reversal of the historical Isabella's position. In this case you might elect to continue to side with France and work towards a condition where France ends up evicting England from continental Europe and even gains a foothold (or you gain a foothold) in the Isles.

I'd forgotten that you won't get any of the explorers and conquistadors. I'm surprised that you didn't graft a few of them onto Castile, but of course it's a matter of what you fell Castile's policies would have been in such circumstances and whether the crown would have funded (or been even at all interested) in exploration and colonial trade/establishments. An interesting decision.

So where next for Castile? Hmmm. After Aragon, I would presume you will continue northwards, and then perhaps push east. This would definely hold you in good favour with France, upon whom you will need to depend rather heavily for quite some time (I imagine) and set you in direct conflict with the Italians.

You've certainly captured my attention, and it'll be interesting to see how this progressses.

 

[HJ Tulp]

Mr T. i don't think that SM goes north because france is in the north and france can be a very useful as an ally.
Great update SM

 

[unmerged(6777)]

Originally posted by HJ Tulp
Mr T. i don't think that SM goes north because france is in the north and france can be a very useful as an ally.
Great update SM

I agree...but I think there is still that strip of English provinces below France (Artois, Gascogne, etc.) that could be taken...or at very least would provide a nice "gift" to France.

 

[Sharur]

SM: I didn't at all mean to imply that you should have worried about Isabella's real-life leanings, I just think it's interesting how these things work out

If I were playing, I'd go for the gusto on the North African coast after dealing with Aragon, and then expand my holdings in Italy, and maybe throughout the rest of the Med... but I'm not playing

 

[Secret Master]

Diary Entry: August 30th, 1481

Today I recieved the news I have longed to hear. My good and dear friend France has ended her war with Brittany, reducing them to just a strip of land. The time is ripe. I sent messengers to Aragon, Navarra, and France, announcing our declaration of war. The die is now cast.

I have sent the Marques de Mancha to command my knights. The Aragonese pig-dogs have a bigger army than we do, but Mancha told me of his plans. He will wait for them to cross the border, and deal with them on our land at first. The peasants will suffer at the hands of pillaging Aragonese, but they will slowly die off, letting Mancha crush them. Once he crushes their army, he feels confident of being able to lay siege to all their castles.

I have ordered my warships to the Gulf of Almeria. We have won many naval battles there. We will see if scrapping the galleys was a good idea.

I have been reading Plutach's Lives of Famous Greeks and Romans this week. The section he has on Mark Antony and Cleopatra is fascinating, though I find his Latin verses to be a bit boring. Latin never was a good language for poetry. Greek and Castillian are much better languages. Also, I think I shall not be a Cleopatra. My fortune wont be tied to some Antony. No, her mistake was allying with Antony and keeping him as lover. Her kingdom, Egypt, paid dearly for it. I might have married Henri of Navarra, but he refuses our offers of closer bonds as a vassal. I wont have a union of equals with the tiny kingdom of Navarra, so that option is out.

Well, enough musing on the past. Mancha is marching from Madrid today to wait in Valencia for the Aragonese pig-dogs. I think tomorrow I shall talk with Torquemada. I need some indulgences to deal with the sins about to be committed, in the name of Castile's manifest destiny.

 

[Secret Master]

The sun was beginning to set on yet another day of inaction for Castile's army. The men went about their chores, but there was little to do. The Marques de Mancha didn't even have more than a minimal guard in place for the army. It wasn't needed, for the Aragonese were nowhere near his army. In fact, his scouts were trying to figure out where 85,000 Aragonese pig-dogs had run off to.

Since the declaration of war, his army had stayed in place for two months, waiting for the Aragonese to move. When they did so, it wasnt across the border into Valencia as hoped. Rather, they disappeared to the north. Rather than stumble blindly into their lands and get annihilated, he was playing it cautious.

Yet, it was not his scouts that would report the whereabouts of the Aragonese army. A messenger arrived from Navarra, telling of their defeat by the army at the Battle of San Sebastion. The messenger was almost in tears, because Navarra was completely pillaged, looted, and under siege. Mancha, however, was all smiles. He called his captains into his tent.

"The pig-dogs of Aragon have made a crucial blunder. Their huge army has moved into the mountains around Navarra. They have pillaged the countryside so completely, there is not a bite of food to be found for the peasants. Soon, their own troops will starve. Meanwhile, the plains of Catalonia lie open and bare before us. We march in the morning. While they are at play in our ally's yard, we shall leave their own land in shambles. They will know our might when they come back and find their manors put to the torch. The lecher Ferdinand will get his desserts. Viva la reina!"

The resounding "Viva la reina!" demonstrated less loyalty to the queen than a desire to be active in the war. And active they would be....

 

[Secret Master]

The Duque de Catalonia toured his camp, noting that little progress was being made in his siege of San Sebastion. Navarrian buggers, he thought to himself, We'll be here for years before they give up. Bah, why did Ferdinand order us here?

It was a question on the minds of everyone at the moment, for another twenty men had died today. Catalonia had ordered their bodies shot over the walls of San Sebastion, just like he did with all the other dead men from disease in his army. It didn't seem to affect the defenders, though. He knew they had slipped messengers past his siege lines, but his own scouts had no reports of their movements.

He moved to his horse, and examined it. Despite the grain looted from the peasants, his horse still looked lean and sick. This was also becoming more common throughout the army, and he dreaded the consequences. Laying siege was one thing, but the worse his army became, the worse it would fight real battles.

He noticed a new horse in the corral, and it signalled to him that a messenger from home had arrived. No horse form his army looked this healthy. He returned to his tent promtply, to hear the news from home.

The messenger handed him a letter from the king. Its contents were typically "kingish", but its contents could be summarized in one sentence.

"The Castilians have marched on Catalonia; you must return to stop them at once!"

The Duque de Catalonia had a visision in his mind, of his fields being burned and his castle under siege. He shook his head and swore under his breath. Composing a quick affirmative reply to the king's letter, he went out to marshal his army for a march.

It will be easier to march away than it was to get here. Only half of them would be marching home as had come here.

 

[Secret Master]

The Marques de Mancha had marched quickly. Even when the Duque de Catalonia recieved his new orders, Mancha had already left a siege force behind in Catalonia, and was moving on to Gerona. The French, lending what aid they could, had moved on Rousillon. Catalonia, finding that he was running out of places to fight them, decided to try and beat Mancha to Gerona, so as to defend on home ground. Catalonia would fail to arrive in time, and by October 30th, Mancha had Gerona under general siege.

But Catalonia was only a day behind him, and on December 1st, he marched his army of 38,000 peasant footsoldiers onto the plains of Gerona. Facing the noble duque was 36,000 of Mancha's knights.

Mancha knew the sorry state of Catalonia's forces, and he planned accordingly. During the night, his men harassed the Aragonese. No real fighting took place, but between insults, taunts, the throwing of animal dung, and general mayhem being caused, Catalonia's tired men got no rest.

When the dawn broke, Mancha formed his men into battle lines. He rode before them, riding up and down the front of his lines, raising the spirits of his men and urging them to victory. He reminded them, "What would you do if your daughters were treated like the queen was by this lecher, Ferdinand? Well, think on that as you ride into the ranks of these vile creatures!"

Catalonia formed his men up as well, facing the enemy as best he could. Since he had no cavalry, he could do little more than wait for the enemy to charge. Mancha, wanting to clear the pig-dogs from the field, obliged him quickly.

Mancha's knights charged them from behind.

With no cavarly screen, Catalonia had no way of knowing that the majority of Mancha's men had rounded behind him during the night. The result was that hopes of Ferdinand were crushed on the fields of Gerona on that day. Within an hour, his men fled even as Mancha's knights cut them down.

Catalonia personally refused to retreat. Throwing off his armor and shield, he gripped his sword, taunting the Castilians to fight him like man. Mancha, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of a warrior's death, trampled him unceremoniuosly with his horse.

On December 1st, the Battle of Gerona saw complete land victory for Castile. All Iberian possesions of Aragon would face Mancha's sieges.

 

[Secret Master]

Diary Entry: New Years Day, 1482

Today I recieved word from our ships in the Gulf of Almeria. It took two weeks of constant fighting, but Aragon's navy has been crushed. Not 30 days after Mancha's victory in Gerona, we have deprived Aragon of the seas as well. The Mass held today had a very bright mood to it.

Now it is a waiting game, Algarve tells me. Can we sack their castles fast enough to secure victory? Or will we collapse because of fatigue before we succeed? Algarve seems to think we can do it, but my spies in Africa tell me that the Moors are getting more and more restless by the day. This bothers me greatly, and it seems to indicate that perhaps Torquemada is right about his loud complaints towards them. Still, I am unconvinced. They are still paying taxes, so I have no real problems with them.

I still have one decision to make. What happens if we win a total victory? If all those lands become ours, who gets them? I could just take them for the crown, but I personally do not care for such things. I might keep the Aragonese nobles in their place, but that will annoy my nobility. I could just give the land to my nobility, but that will reduce the Aragonese and Catalonians to an occupied people, making them more difficult to rule. This does not even factor in the Itallian possessions.

I may have to call an assembly of the nobility to help decide these issues. Anything I do unilaterally on this subject is bound to anger one group or another.

But the real question is what happens when Aragon is gone? What will I use to keep the nobles occupied?

 

[Sharur]

Take on Morocco and Algiers!

Great work, SM, I know I've said this before, but this is by far your best aar yet.

 

[alvaro]

yeah! Morocco, Algeria and Tunis.
That's some kind of historical though but is quite original as normally Iberian kingdoms don't play much in North Africa.

This is a great AAR!

BTW SM, swome tip for your story. Torquemada was said to be a cristiano nuevo, new christian (he or his family were jews before conversion) that's why he was so 'good inquisidor' against heathens. dunno maybe it helps in your storyline.
cheers,

 

[unmerged(7300)]

That bit from the perspective of the Duque de Catalonia was brilliant. Bravo!


Dyr

 

[Storey]

Originally posted by Secret Master

Since I kept some of the Torquemada events, and gave them to Castile, I'll give a prize to who can guess, correctly, her ultimate decision towards the Moors. A bonus goes to who can give the logical reason, in her mind, for her actions.

This is rather difficult to say the least but it seems to me that Isabella is above all a realist when it comes to politics. Her desire is to remain in power so after Aragon is eliminated I don't see her wanting to expand northward unless its to diplo-annex someone. It doesn't seem practical from a political standpoint to go into Italy so that leaves North Africa. She can stir up a good old fashion religious war that will keep her people distracted about her marriage status at least for awhile. Without the explorers that Spain received I don't see where else it would make sense to go but then Isabella has surprised me before.

Joe

 

[Castellon]

SM, Just wanted to add my voice to the chorus and say I think you are doing a great job with this AAR.

 

[Secret Master]

Diary Entry: May 1st, 1483

The Marques de Mancha sent me word today that Catalonia is ours. With Rousillon also occupied by our troops, only Ferdinand's den of vice, his capital, remains out of our hands in Iberia. But the Duque de Algavre has reports that Ferdinand is desperately raising armies in Sicily. This is somewhat troubling, but I am confident of Mancha's capacities as a leader. When the time comes, Sicily and Matla will be ours as well.

But my dear confessor, Torquemada, brings me worse news from our southern lands. The Moors are up in arms. Tangiers has been sacked by rebels, while other groups of rebels are looting in Granada and Fez. I have authorized more troops raised to deal with them, but I hate splitting the attention of my armies. No matter, I have some plans to deal with the Moors. All in due time, though.

I miss the pressence of my good friends, France and Navarra, in this war. But they had good reasons for bowing out a few months ago. Henri of Navarra noted that all his lands were looted by the Aragonese invasion, and Louis of France hada to go home and put down revolts. My concern is not too great. Aragon is now a beaten entity, and we can handle them ourselves.

 

[Secret Master]

Diary Entry: August 1st, 1484

The war drags on. Mancha has laid siege to Ferdinand's capital for over a year now, with little result. The country is growing more and more restless as this war drags on, and the Moors continue to be up in arms. To support me in this end, the Pope granted my request to have Torquemada elevated to the position of Inquisidor of all Castile. The Holy See was somewhat skeptical about appointing him to the position, as there are nasty rumors about his past, including his old Jewish practices; however, when I outlined to the Pope all of his plans for dealing with the Moors, their fears were put to rest. The Vatican views Torquemada as a zealous enforcer of Christ, and is now pleased he will be my Inquisidor.

At least my forces have landed in Sardinia and the Balearas Islands. We have confirmed sightings of a large Aragonese army in Sicily, but their navy is broken. Mancha will fight them on his own terms when the time comes. For now, the sieges will continue.

 

[Secret Master]

The Marques de Mancha toured the siege works in Sargosa. The final castle Aragon has in Iberia is now facing his personal attention. Fittingly, it is the personal castle of Ferdinand. Fittingly, it is close to collapse.

It was January 30th, 1485. Mancha had supervised the landings in Sardinia and Malta, but had returned to give his personal attention to this siege. Rumor had it that Ferdinand himself was inside, and Mancha had a vested interest in getting the lecher into his custody. The queen had made it clear that anyone who brought Ferdinand before her would incur her favor. Mancha intended to gain the queen's favor, for whomever she favored might become her husband. And whoever was her husband would be king...

As he made his rounds, he gave encouragement to the men. They were bored afer two years of siege and desperately wanted to go home. The usual call for encouragement, "Viva la reina!" was no longer working. In this vein, Mancha had begun giving them encouragement that sounded more like, "Let's loot the homes of those Aragonese pig-dogs!" It worked, just as Mancha knew it would. The soldiers of Castile would always be the same, treasuring loot and booty above all else.

Then, he heard a great cry come up from his men quite suddenly. He glanced up to the castle, and saw a large white flag flying. The Aragonese had finally given up! He rallied his men into some kind of formation, and marched them into the castle, whereupon the looting began. Even as his men looted, Mancha stormed about, looking for Ferdinand.

But it was not until days later, under torture, that one of Ferdinand's personal guards showed Mancha the secret passage Ferdinand used to escape. The Aragonese king was likely in Sicily by now.

Mancha was fuming in anger. But there was nothing he could do. After a week of looting, rape, and other horrible crimes, he marched the army home to Madrid. Now it was time to plan an invasion of Sicily.

 

[Secret Master]

It would take Mancha a year, but he would finally build a large enough army to sack Sicily. By January of 1486, the Castilian navy was taking him to Sicily. The journy by sea was slow due to bad winds, so it was not until May that they would reach the tiny island.

The Aragonese had long anticipated this move, and had planned accordingly. Their army took up positions in Palermo, and simply waited for the Castilians. Mancha would have to go to them because the only way to siege parts of the island was to command the hills around Palermo.

When Mancha landed his army, he set out immediately to engage the Aragonese. The men were eager for a fight, for there had been no real battles for years. As they advanced towards Palermo, both armies cavalry engaged in battles. Aragonese cavalry was trying to prevent good scouting on the part of the Castilians, even as the Castlian cavalry was trying to scout. Thus, there was no clear picture on the part of either army as to the position of the other by May 18th, when they stumbled on each other.

Mancha's cavalry was harassing the Aragonese when they noticed many times more troops than usual. The cavalry commander, the Marques de Azores, failed to grasp the situation, and did not withdraw to report the pressence of the Aragonese main body. His cavalrly continued to harass and fient as Mancha marched the main body up into the hills. For the Aragonse, they could not understand Azores actions, and assumed he was under orders to continue his operations. Thus, the Duque de Gerona incorrectly guessed that the Castilians knew his army's position. He ordered them to break position and to try and intercept the Castilians. Except he marched in the direction of Azores's cavarly body, who happened to be on the Castilian far right.

This left the entire Aragonese right wing hanging completely open to the front of Mancha's army.

As Gerona began to crush Azores's cavarly, he grasped that Azores was not the vanguard of Mancha's army, but it was too late. It was then that he recieved reports of a full cavalry charge by Mancha's front into the exposed wing of Gerona's army. There was nothing he could do but watch as his lines of troops were rolled up on the wings by the Castilians. His desperate attempts at withdrawing were put to an end when Mancha's cavalry sweeped to his rear.

The fighting would last most of the day, as befitting a battle involving over 25,000 men on each side. But when it was over, all of the Aragonse were dead, with only 8,000 Castilian casualties.

Still, Mancha was angry, because Ferdinand was not among the Aragonese. He was cowering in a castle in Messina. And so, Mancha marched to lay sieges.

 

[Sharur]

Don't worry, you'll get Ferdinand... eventually...