This is an In Nomine game, that I have just started. Hopefully (if you read my sadly unfinished Rome AAR) this will last until the End Date. Until that time, though, I will periodically release updates at my whim (which, again hopefully, won't be to bothersome on those who do wish to read this). On a side note, I did make some screenshots, but they wouldn't paste onto this. Any help on that would be appreciated.
Joao I had formed an alliance, and gained a wife, in negotiations with England in 1387, and now began looking towards expanding his kingdom. He had always feared the Castilians to the east, and realized his kingdom was completely outmatched in every possible regard (excluding their honour and navigational ability), and realized that, even with English support, he would be sorely beaten in a war with the Castilians. So, more out of pragmatism than love, the King offered an alliance with Enrique III, King of Castile, on October 14, 1399. The same day, he also sent alliance propositions to the venerable Kings of Naples and Aragon , Ladislao I and Marti I. Deciding to place even more focus on his military, he hired Nuno Alvares Pereira, a Grand Captain of great renown (6), Gil de Penamacor, a Naval Reformer of moderate talent (2), and Nicolau de Mendoca, a Sergeant Major of little regard (1). He also began centralizing his kingdom, hoping to further ensure his power. He also placed the mercantile affairs of the nation in the hands of his court, deciding to be more involved in the running of the military.
On the fifteenth of October, he was overjoyed to hear that all three of his alliance proposals were accepted, bringing Portugal great honour and influence across the Mediterranean. However, on the sixteenth, the Castilians declared war on the Granadans. Joao, not only wanting to maintain his good relations with the Castilians, but also hoping to seize Gibraltar, which sat in the middle of the strait that divided the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, for himself, agreed to aid his new allies. He made Pereira commander of the Guarda Real, and ordered them to march south, towards Andalucía and Cadiz. He also sent the Armada Real to Algarve with no commander. On the seventeenth, the Aragonese offered a trade agreement with his most powerful kingdom, and Joao accepted.
On the first of November, the Granadan army, commanded by Malik Ibn Sa’d, arrived in Cordoba. On the fifth, he received horrible news: Aragon had declared war on Navarra, and was now requesting Portuguese assistance. Hoping this would either be an insignificant distraction or possibly even a territorial gain, Joao accepted. On the fourteenth of November, Pereira and his two-thousand man force engaged the one-thousand man force of the Granadan sultan himself, Muhammed VII. Pereira, a commander of the highest degree, quickly repulsed the Sultans’ army (the nineteenth).
Confident his superb commander and his elite troops would dispatch all that his enemies could muster, ordered Pereira to began marching on the twentieth of November, to Gibraltar. He also began fielding a force of one-thousand Latin Knights to reinforce his infantry. On the twenty-fifth, however, he received horrible news again: his Neapolitan allies had declared war on the Kingdom of Urbino. Hoping that the war would remain a limited adventure by his allies, Joao reluctantly agreed to back his allies (he always feared becoming involved in Italian wars, which tended to spread quickly amongst the city states, republics and principalities, and took years to disentangle oneself out of. By this point, his warring, especially amongst brothers in the Faith, had angered his people, and he feared that the peasants would begin revolting (even more than usual, that is).
By December, all of Granada was under siege, the Navarrans were being overrun by the Aragonese, the Urbinese were losing to the Neapolitans. However, on the fifteenth, the English sent an ambassador to the court of King Joao requesting aid in their war with France, who was backed by Scotland. Truly fearful of the French (but also fearful of a wrathful England), Joao, finally agreed to aid the English, on the sixteenth. Fortunately, his people were not unsupportive of his move, seeing French invasion as foolish and unwise. Indeed, the English fleet was one of the worlds most powerful, and the whole of Christendom, especially Portugal, envied its prestige and power.
The French Embargo Act of 1400 banned all trade with Portugal, Brabant, and England. After a rather uneventful January, the people of Portugal had signed a petition that would grant them more say in the national institutions. Joao, the centralist and firm monarchist, that he was, he declared, in Portuguese, that he was the state, as well as some rather unsavoury remarks about the paternity of the ringleaders and head petitioners, which, oddly enough did not, sit well with the peasantry.
With the Terco de Algarve finally ready to aid in the conquest of Gibraltar, Joao placed Antonio Francisco Ferreira Martins, a long time backer of His Majesty, and firm monarchist, as temporary commander, until the force could merge with the Guarda Real.
By the middle of March, Joao decided that the war could be ended more quickly if he sent out the Armada Real to Gibraltar and show the Granadans that no support would come from the Moroccans, who Joao believed were secretly backing their stiff resistance. On the twenty-seventh, Urbino was annexed by the Neapolitans, who thanked the Portuguese for their support (which confounded the King, since he didn’t remember sending any soldiers to aid them in their war. Of course, his son Henry (later known as the Navigator) had been on his tour of Europe and had told his father that he had commandeered a small fleet in the Adriatic, and when he returned home, he carried with him many pounds of gold and artefacts, many marked with the signs of Urbino. But that could mean anything, right?
).
By the middle of April, the Granadans were begging the Portuguese for peace, but refused to cede Gibraltar. The Navarrans made similar requests, but Joao decided to continue aiding his Aragonese allies until they came to an agreeable end to these hostilities.
Navarra became a vassal to Aragon on the twenty-sixth of May, roughly the same time that Cardinal Henry Baffin, from England, and was replaced by Johannes Grimm, Archbishop of Dresden (in Thuringia). England, however, remained in control of the Curia, with Ralph Moore, of Northumberland, and Benjamin Button, of Wessex, both serving as Cardinals. With a firm ally in command in the Papacy, and an Emperor who couldn’t care less about the goings on in Iberia, Joao began to feel more secure about his kingdoms position in the world.
Months of relative peace ensue.
By September, though Almeria was controlled by Castile and Portugal was becoming more stable. On the seventh, great news arrived: Gibraltar had fallen to Pereira! After two hundred and eighty-eight days, the jointure and divider of the Atlantic and Mediterranean was in Portuguese hands (unofficially). The following day, the Sultan agreed to pay fifty gold ducats to the King, as well as formally cede the province of Gibraltar. Joao then began a policy of converting the heathens of Gibraltar to the True Faith. On the twenty-seventh of September, the Castilian King offered a royal marriage between the two nations, which Joao, who was becoming more friendly on a personal level with his neighbours, agreed to.
By the beginning of 1401, the French-English War had largely become an invasion of Scotland, and a naval war with the French, neither of which Portugal had been involved in.
Also, here is why His Majesty loves Pereira so much.
The Kingdom, The Papacy, and the Holy Roman Empire:
The Kingdom of Portugal 10.14.1399-
Joao I of Portugal
April 11, 1358 -
April 6, 1385 -
The Papal Curia 10.14.1399-
England 10.31.1399 -
The Holy Roman Emperor 10.14.1399-
Vaclav IV of Bohemia
October 14, 1399 -
Joao I had formed an alliance, and gained a wife, in negotiations with England in 1387, and now began looking towards expanding his kingdom. He had always feared the Castilians to the east, and realized his kingdom was completely outmatched in every possible regard (excluding their honour and navigational ability), and realized that, even with English support, he would be sorely beaten in a war with the Castilians. So, more out of pragmatism than love, the King offered an alliance with Enrique III, King of Castile, on October 14, 1399. The same day, he also sent alliance propositions to the venerable Kings of Naples and Aragon , Ladislao I and Marti I. Deciding to place even more focus on his military, he hired Nuno Alvares Pereira, a Grand Captain of great renown (6), Gil de Penamacor, a Naval Reformer of moderate talent (2), and Nicolau de Mendoca, a Sergeant Major of little regard (1). He also began centralizing his kingdom, hoping to further ensure his power. He also placed the mercantile affairs of the nation in the hands of his court, deciding to be more involved in the running of the military.
On the fifteenth of October, he was overjoyed to hear that all three of his alliance proposals were accepted, bringing Portugal great honour and influence across the Mediterranean. However, on the sixteenth, the Castilians declared war on the Granadans. Joao, not only wanting to maintain his good relations with the Castilians, but also hoping to seize Gibraltar, which sat in the middle of the strait that divided the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, for himself, agreed to aid his new allies. He made Pereira commander of the Guarda Real, and ordered them to march south, towards Andalucía and Cadiz. He also sent the Armada Real to Algarve with no commander. On the seventeenth, the Aragonese offered a trade agreement with his most powerful kingdom, and Joao accepted.
On the first of November, the Granadan army, commanded by Malik Ibn Sa’d, arrived in Cordoba. On the fifth, he received horrible news: Aragon had declared war on Navarra, and was now requesting Portuguese assistance. Hoping this would either be an insignificant distraction or possibly even a territorial gain, Joao accepted. On the fourteenth of November, Pereira and his two-thousand man force engaged the one-thousand man force of the Granadan sultan himself, Muhammed VII. Pereira, a commander of the highest degree, quickly repulsed the Sultans’ army (the nineteenth).
Confident his superb commander and his elite troops would dispatch all that his enemies could muster, ordered Pereira to began marching on the twentieth of November, to Gibraltar. He also began fielding a force of one-thousand Latin Knights to reinforce his infantry. On the twenty-fifth, however, he received horrible news again: his Neapolitan allies had declared war on the Kingdom of Urbino. Hoping that the war would remain a limited adventure by his allies, Joao reluctantly agreed to back his allies (he always feared becoming involved in Italian wars, which tended to spread quickly amongst the city states, republics and principalities, and took years to disentangle oneself out of. By this point, his warring, especially amongst brothers in the Faith, had angered his people, and he feared that the peasants would begin revolting (even more than usual, that is).
By December, all of Granada was under siege, the Navarrans were being overrun by the Aragonese, the Urbinese were losing to the Neapolitans. However, on the fifteenth, the English sent an ambassador to the court of King Joao requesting aid in their war with France, who was backed by Scotland. Truly fearful of the French (but also fearful of a wrathful England), Joao, finally agreed to aid the English, on the sixteenth. Fortunately, his people were not unsupportive of his move, seeing French invasion as foolish and unwise. Indeed, the English fleet was one of the worlds most powerful, and the whole of Christendom, especially Portugal, envied its prestige and power.
The French Embargo Act of 1400 banned all trade with Portugal, Brabant, and England. After a rather uneventful January, the people of Portugal had signed a petition that would grant them more say in the national institutions. Joao, the centralist and firm monarchist, that he was, he declared, in Portuguese, that he was the state, as well as some rather unsavoury remarks about the paternity of the ringleaders and head petitioners, which, oddly enough did not, sit well with the peasantry.
With the Terco de Algarve finally ready to aid in the conquest of Gibraltar, Joao placed Antonio Francisco Ferreira Martins, a long time backer of His Majesty, and firm monarchist, as temporary commander, until the force could merge with the Guarda Real.
By the middle of March, Joao decided that the war could be ended more quickly if he sent out the Armada Real to Gibraltar and show the Granadans that no support would come from the Moroccans, who Joao believed were secretly backing their stiff resistance. On the twenty-seventh, Urbino was annexed by the Neapolitans, who thanked the Portuguese for their support (which confounded the King, since he didn’t remember sending any soldiers to aid them in their war. Of course, his son Henry (later known as the Navigator) had been on his tour of Europe and had told his father that he had commandeered a small fleet in the Adriatic, and when he returned home, he carried with him many pounds of gold and artefacts, many marked with the signs of Urbino. But that could mean anything, right?
). By the middle of April, the Granadans were begging the Portuguese for peace, but refused to cede Gibraltar. The Navarrans made similar requests, but Joao decided to continue aiding his Aragonese allies until they came to an agreeable end to these hostilities.
Navarra became a vassal to Aragon on the twenty-sixth of May, roughly the same time that Cardinal Henry Baffin, from England, and was replaced by Johannes Grimm, Archbishop of Dresden (in Thuringia). England, however, remained in control of the Curia, with Ralph Moore, of Northumberland, and Benjamin Button, of Wessex, both serving as Cardinals. With a firm ally in command in the Papacy, and an Emperor who couldn’t care less about the goings on in Iberia, Joao began to feel more secure about his kingdoms position in the world.
Months of relative peace ensue.
By September, though Almeria was controlled by Castile and Portugal was becoming more stable. On the seventh, great news arrived: Gibraltar had fallen to Pereira! After two hundred and eighty-eight days, the jointure and divider of the Atlantic and Mediterranean was in Portuguese hands (unofficially). The following day, the Sultan agreed to pay fifty gold ducats to the King, as well as formally cede the province of Gibraltar. Joao then began a policy of converting the heathens of Gibraltar to the True Faith. On the twenty-seventh of September, the Castilian King offered a royal marriage between the two nations, which Joao, who was becoming more friendly on a personal level with his neighbours, agreed to.
By the beginning of 1401, the French-English War had largely become an invasion of Scotland, and a naval war with the French, neither of which Portugal had been involved in.
Also, here is why His Majesty loves Pereira so much.
The Kingdom, The Papacy, and the Holy Roman Empire:
The Kingdom of Portugal 10.14.1399-
Joao I of Portugal
April 11, 1358 -
April 6, 1385 -
The Papal Curia 10.14.1399-
England 10.31.1399 -
The Holy Roman Emperor 10.14.1399-
Vaclav IV of Bohemia
October 14, 1399 -
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