There'll Always be an Angevin: the first Provence AAR

[unmerged(24591)]

I signed up a little while ago but haven't posted till now. Great campaign! I loved your Scottish one too.

 

[unmerged(15337)]

Hi Farquharson, I finally got caught up with your latest Provencal escapades. You have kept your wonderful genius for designing illustrations to complement the game -- the Helvetian CRT was the best! So that was land tech 14, I suppose?

How did you ever think you could defend Italy without a navy?

In which beta or version did all the colors change? I'm used to Ukraine and Siena both being dark green, my favorite color, now replaced by that horrible burnt orange! Ah, excuse me, that lovely orange-brown color of Provence, I mean.

Are you going to make a mad dash to annex France before they get the "Walls of Paris" event?

Good luck in any case, especially against the Habsburg alliance.

 

[VPeric]

Yeah, salt is a great resource. It isn't hard to be getting 50 from a salt province by the end of a game...

 

[Farquharson]

Troggle - the English have beaten me to Acadie, but of course I'll likely be able to grab it if we have a war. I'm going for Micmac next instead. I must say I was tempted by purple, but in the ended I decided I'd become too attached to that hideous orange that everyone seems to love to hate...

JRoch - Thanks for posting! May it be the first of many

jwolf - Aargh! I feel incredibly stupid, and until you posted I hadn't even realized! For some inexplicable reason I had it in my head that the improved ("Helvetian") CRTs came at land tech 13, which is what I reached in 1561. As you'll see below, I was shocked that my armies still seemed to get creamed in the next war - no wonder - I didn't actually have the new CRTs at all! o o o As for a navy, you'll be glad to know I'm working on it, although I haven't suffered the lack of it too much so far. As for colours, I suspect this colour scheme comes with the EEP. And finally, can someone please tell me exactly when the Gates of Paris happens and what it will mean if France is still around? Thanks!

VPeric - thanks for the tip. I promise to watch for salt provinces!

 

[Farquharson]

Chapter 21: 1562 - 1575
Turmoil in Europe​

Despite the fact that his army was now better trained and equipped than ever, Charles III of Provence was not really anxious for another war right away. He wanted to concentrate on other projects, like establishing a firm Provençal foothold in the New World, and gently persuading Peter Waldo’s followers of the error of their ways. A steady stream of pizza-eating, pastis-drinking colonists were therefore sent to civilize Nova Scotia, while an earnest young missionary was assigned the task of converting Dauphiné back to the true faith. In 1568 the fruits of his labours paid off and Provence was left with only two Reformed provinces.

1568 was also the year in which war came once more. In January Siena brought the French Alliance into war with Provence once again. This was the Alliance that had so badly mauled Charles’ army in the Two Month War of 1559 and, appallingly, they looked like doing the same again. Charles watched with dismay as first Morbihan then Maine fell to the Bretons, while his own attempts to defeat the Sienese ended in stalemate.

Of course the opportunistic Helvetians had also declared war in March 1568, and seemed once more determined to take Franche Comté, which they did in June. In July Charles decided to cut his losses and ceded Morbihan to Brittany. Now the Kingdom of Provence was 100% French and Italian, and almost 100% Catholic. Unfortunately, it was also being overrun by Helvetians. The war dragged on for another year, when another unexpected assailant joined in - Charles’ old foe Charles Borromeo, now Archbishop of Mantua. Mantua had been subjugated and vassalized by Spain in 1564, but most Mantuans still dreamed of freedom. Charles Borromeo was dreaming of something else:

Charles Borromeo - his head glowed because he was the Pope’s nephew​

Charles Borromeo, Archbishop of Mantua and nephew of Pope Pius IV: Your Highness - the moment has come!

Duke Guglielmo of Mantua: Er - what moment would that be Your Holiness?

Charles Borromeo: The moment of divine vengeance against those heretic Provençaux!

Duke Guglielmo: Heretic? I thought they were still Catholics.

Charles Borromeo: Your Highness, there are Catholics... and Catholics.

Duke Guglielmo: And the Provençaux are...?

Charles Borromeo: Barely worthy of the name, Sire. See how they continue to arrogantly occupy the city of Milan whose citizens paid in blood for their own liberation from the Habsburg dogs. It is time to wreak vengeance, my Lord, now while they are in disarray!

Duke Guglielmo: Hmm - yes, well that may be all very well, but - how exactly do you propose to wreak this vengeance? You will recall that we don’t actually have an army.

Charles Borromeo: But we have God on our side! The filthy Provençaux will be routed before us!

Duke Guglielmo: An interesting theory, Your Holiness. However, forgive me if I don’t rush to put it to the test right now...

Charles Borromeo: Your Highness, I surely do not detect a hint of sympathy for these profligate sons of the devil? I wouldn’t want to have to recommend your excommunication to my uncle.

Duke Guglielmo: You wouldn’t dare!

Charles Borromeo: On the contrary, Your Highness, I would consider it my humble duty before God.

Duke Guglielmo: Oh very well - I’ll declare war! But I jolly well hope those Provençaux are too occupied with the Helvetians to pay the slightest bit of notice.

The progress of the war shortly before the Provençaux marched on Mantua
The rebels in Provence had wandered over from Languedoc​

Charles III of Provence did notice, however, and so did his Genoese allies. The army who were currently trying to recapture Piemonte gave up and marched eastwards to lay siege to the city of Mantua. Meanwhile the province of Franche Comté had been recaptured from Helvetia and the Helvetians now offered peace if Charles III paid them 25 ducats and gave up military access. In consternation, Charles quickly signed the peace treaty and sent reinforcements to the siege of Mantua.

Finally in November 1570 the city of Mantua fell and the people of Mantua in their turn were liberated from Charles Borromeo and his Lombard ravings and brought into the Kingdom of Provence. By this time of course, Charles of Provence was getting rather a bad reputation for annexing small defenceless Italian duchies. It was time to turn over a new leaf.

In fact the Milanese and Mantuans were not the only people to have thrown off the shackles of Austrian domination. In 1565 the Palatinat and Bohemia had both declared their independence, followed by Wirtemberg in 1566. Then, shortly before Charles III annexed Mantua in 1570, Strassburg also declared independence and the people of Schwyz defected to Helvetia.

We should also mention the sad fate of Venice here, who had declared war on the Habsburg alliance in 1568, and in 1571 were stripped of everything but their capital by Spain. This was of course of some interest to Charles III, since the Venetians now had no army, and an easily annexable centre of trade on his doorstep. If only he had a just cause for war - or a slightly better reputation. Or perhaps if Charles Borromeo had fled there...

The wealthy city of Venice, now fallen on hard times​

Another momentous event took place on Charles’ other doorstep in 1570, when France was riven by yet another religious schism. In August the French government collapsed and four provinces broke away calling themselves the French Catholics. The breakaway provinces were Languedoc, Lorraine, Champagne and Artois. Since the Huguenots seemed to have acquired Poitou at some stage, this left France with just nine provinces, all in the north and the Low Countries.

Two months after their secession from France the French Catholics agreed to join the Provençal Alliance. Over the next three years Charles arranged a marriage with his new allies as well as plying them with pizza, which they took to with gusto. In 1573 they leapt at the chance to become vassals of the mighty Kingdom of Provence, and Charles, to show how serious he took this, sent some troops to Champagne to help quell a revolt. It looked like the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

France then suffered a further blow in 1574 when Brabant, Flandern and Zeeland broke away to form the Protestant state of the Netherlands, reducing their territory to just six provinces. Moreover when the Dutch declared war on France, both Siena and Kleves dishonoured the French Alliance. Charles was particularly interested to see Siena free, however not surprisingly they declined to join his alliance instead. Undeterred Charles quickly began showering his Italian neighbour with gifts. By September of 1574 they were getting on very well, when Siena decided to rejoin the French Alliance. It was something of a blow, but Charles was still hopeful that they might now refuse to go to war against Provence in the future.

The Kingdom of Provence in 1574
Note the new colour scheme, including Brittany in Scottish blue!​

[BTW thanks to Languish who inspired me to investigate alternative screenshot image formats. I found that by saving in 128-color PNG format you often get a slightly smaller filesize and a much cleaner result ]

 

[VPeric]

Great update! Its somewhat long, but who could complain. Things are looking bright for you... France is on an all-time low and the French Catholics your vassals. If you wait a while, and keep good relations, you should be easily able to diploannex them after ~20 years. i've found that trying earlier, even if you are vastly supperior, rarely works (I only done it, for example with Georgia, as Russia =\ ) I see Corsica has been reconquered by Genoa, or was that on the last screenie too... I don't remmember

 

[unmerged(19936)]

Things are certainly looking good for Provence. What's your BB like though? Also, how are Provencal holdings in the New World looking?

 

[merrick]

So Provence goes from strength to strength, despite a disasterous reputation and an ineffectual army - maybe the devil was taking a hand .

France, on the other hand, is declining and falling all over the place - someone really should step in and take charge. Giving up Morbihan was probably worth it (especially if it was Reformed), but will it give the Bretons ideas above their station?

(The Walls of Paris, BTW, unconditionally re-annexes the French Catholics and Hugenots, changes the state religion to Catholic (B choice is Reformed) and converts Paris (if needed). So if you want to annex the French Catholics yourself you'd better not wait too long).

 

[VPeric]

^^ Well, then you are in trouble =\ Event fires in august of 1589. Lets hope they feel you are much more stronger econimaclly

 

[Van Engel]

Provence is getting big !! It looks like france is taking her normal 10-30 year decline with the wars of religion but becareful they bounce back hard (I have expirenced this with savoy )

Btw I loved the bit about Mantua declaring war with no army but with God on there side :rofl:

 

[unmerged(15337)]

OK, let me get this straight. You're at or close to a dangerous BB threshold. You're considering diploannexing the French Catholics, or conquering France, quickly before the Walls of Paris event. You face the constant threat of war from Spain and Austria. You have only a weak navy, and still have not mastered the secret and deadly Helvetian CRTs.

Other than that, everything is fine, right? Sounds great! Let's see how Charles solves this puzzle!

 

[coz1]

Let's see how Charles solves this puzzle!

More pizza and pastis obviously! Great work becoming completely Catholic again. And poor, poor France. Whatever will happen to them now?

 

[Semi-Lobster]

Looks like you lost your Casus Belli on France after they lost Lorraine! What shall you do about it?!

 

[Farquharson]

VPeric - thanks for the hint about diplo-annexing the French Catholics. I'll try to be patient! Regarding Corsica, it's always been part of Genoa, which is why I never tried to conquer them by force! (Connaught is still Genoese as well BTW :wacko: )

Troggle - BB is at 17 ("tarnished" I think). New World screenie coming up...

merrick - Yes, I believe someone will be stepping in to take charge of France pretty soon... I believe Morbihan was still Catholic, but hey, these Celts are troublesome whatever their religion... Thanks for the summary of the Walls of Paris event - it helps a lot with immediate strategy!

VPeric - just wait and see

Van Engel - ditto. Also, Charles Borromeo never gives up - he'll be back!

jwolf - with panache!

coz1 - sorry if I misled you, but I still have two provinces to convert (Lyonnais and Maine). Should be do-able when I have a bit of spare cash...

Semi-Lobster - Yes, but remember I'm allied to the French Catholics now!

 

[Farquharson]

Chapter 22: 1575 - 1578
The Demise of France​

Charles III of Provence still carried in his Angevin veins a deep hatred of the House of Valois and it was with particular satisfaction that he now watched as France seemed to be spiralling into oblivion. He was proud, too, that his own family had done more to provoke France’s downfall than anyone else, since the time when Charles VIII of France had stabbed his Provençal ally in the back in 1495. He was a little worried, however, that his programme of military reform had not produced more tangible results on the battlefield. Early in 1575 one of his chief advisors, Jérôme de St-Loup, came to him with urgent news:

Jérôme de St-Loup: Your Majesty, I have been looking into the affair of the Helvetian CRTs and I have made a startling discovery!

Charles III, King of Provence: Yes, my good man - what is that?

St-Loup: I have discovered why the new weapons seem to have little effect in battle.

Charles III: Have you, now? Well, spit it out man!

St-Loup: Sire - those Helvetian CRTs - they were just a screen. Those crafty Helvetians were using them to hide their real secret weapon!

Charles III: Aha! So arming our troops with them in fact did nothing at all?

St-Loup: Alas, that is true, Your Majesty. But there’s more - I have in fact identified the real secret weapon which gave them such an advantage in battle - here!

Charles III, staring at the strange weapon: And what on earth is that?

St-Loup: It’s called a musket, Your Majesty, and I am pleased to say that our gunsmiths have almost perfected the manufacture of these new and deadly weapons.

Charles III, looking dubiously at the musket: And you’re sure these are better than those Helvetian CRTs?

St-Loup: Absolutely, Sire!

Charles III: Well, St-Loup, you have done an excellent job - I congratulate you!

St-Loup: Thank you, Sire. I am honoured.

Charles III: As a reward, I have another mission for you, one of the utmost delicacy.

St-Loup: I am at your service, Your Majesty.

Charles III: I need you to act as our new ambassador to Siena, St-Loup. I believe you have some intimate knowledge of their ways and customs?

St-Loup: That is correct, Sire.

Charles III: As France’s ally, they are still technically our enemy, but our relations with them have improved dramatically of late. Your job will be to ensure that things continue in that direction.

St-Loup: You can count on me, Your Majesty.

Charles III: I will do so, St-Loup. Don’t let me down!

Jérôme de St-Loup left for Siena immediately. This was just as well, for just a few months later the French Catholics declared war on France. Naturally, Provence and Genoa came to their aid, and the Palatinat and Kleves joined the war on France’s side. Charles waited in agonized anticipation for the news from Siena. Finally it came - Siena had joined the war... not on France’s side but on Provence’s! The news seemed too good to be true, but soon Sienese troops were marching through Marseille, and accompanying them was Jérôme de St-Loup, who confirmed the fact that Siena was now part of the Provençal Alliance.

The very next month the Provençal Army was armed with the new muskets, having received Sienese help in perfecting their manufacture and use. A small force was sent into Nivernais to besiege the city of Nevers. The bulk of the Provençal Army was still stationed in northern Italy, and after quelling a revolt in Milan they now marched north. By the time they reached Nevers the French Catholics had taken control of the siege, and seemed to have sufficient troops to deal with it, so the Provençal Army continued north to Caux, where they quickly laid siege to Rouen.

It will be recalled that Willem of Orange had declared the Netherlands an independent reformed state and had gone to war against France the previous year. That war was still raging, which explains what had happened to all of France’s armies. The Huguenots were also still at war with France.

In September 1575 the French Catholics annexed the Palatinat then in December the French Alliance finally came to an end when the people of Münster declared their independence and went to war on Kleves, and Henry III of France dishonoured his alliance. This proved to be rather bad news for in February 1576 Henry III was welcomed into the Habsburg Alliance of Austria and Spain, although these nations did not join the war.

In December 1576 Henry III ceded the French colony of Dakar to the Huguenots for peace. In February Rouen was captured by Provence and the following month the French Catholics, who now occupied Nivernais and Paris, signed a peace treaty by which the province of Nivernais went to them, the province of Caux went to Provence and France paid 50 ducats in indemnities. By November of that same year the Dutch had occupied Paris in their turn and forced France to give up all the rest of their territory. A few months later they had formed a new Reformed Alliance with the French Huguenots.

The Fate of France​

Needless to say, while the Provençal armies had been occupied crushing France, Charles Borromeo had not been idle, but had spent a good part of the war stirring up the people of Milan and Mantua with his fanatical rantings. By the time Provence was at peace, both these cities were in the hands of his rebel followers. It was not until August 1578 that the cities were recaptured.

Meanwhile far away on the other side of the mighty Atlantic Ocean a second Provençal colony was founded in September 1578:

 

[VPeric]

I think we have found a simpler solution to destroy France and their ability to absorb the French Catholics - annex France. Sure, its quite a bit of BB, but will help you in the long run... a LOT. It will also give you leeway to wait a while to diploannex the Catholics. Good update, BTW!!

 

[unmerged(11018)]

Yeah, put an end to France's miserable existence once & for all!

 

[Van Engel]

That COT in Isle de France must be tempting.......

 

[unmerged(15337)]

Nice to see Siena assisting you in that critical weapons tech transition. You gotta get help from the right sources. I agree with VPeric -- just go grab France and get it over with.

 

[unmerged(19936)]

Bravo, bravo, well done

You've done a great job, I can't wait for tales to come back from the colonies.

btw, does France have any colonies abroad that might prevent you from swiftly annexing them?