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Tommy4ever

Papa Bear
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Sep 13, 2008
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This AAR will follow my first ever game as a Count, I'm playing the D'Albons of Dauphine Viennois.

Since I've never been able to get passed 1150 in my CK games without getting bored and quiting I decided to write down the major events of this one to keep myself entertained. I didn't initially intend on making this an AAR so there will be no screen but I'm using a blank CK map to show territorial changes etc and I'll try to put in pics whenever I can.

Each update will follow the entire reign of one King (unless its very long and eventful in which case I'll split it) and will come out weekly as I've got another AAR in the HoI2 forum which I want to keep going.

The first update about Saint Guignes the Great, Patron Saint of the D'Albons will be up shortly (currently uploading pics)
 
St Guignes, The Great, Patron Saint of the House of D’Albon
Lived: 1045 - 1103
Head of the House of D’Albon: 1066-1103
Count of Dauphine Viennois: 1066-1080
Duke of Dauphine: 1080-1096
King of Burgundy: 1096-1103

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Whilst St Guignes, The Great was by no means the first D’Albon or even the first D’Albon Count of Dauphine Viennois he is usually the man historians start their history of the D’Albons with and this history of the House is no different. In his 37 years at the head of the House of D’Albon he went from Count of a small, although comparatively wealthy, province to King of a vibrant and powerful state. His story is perhaps the most spectacular rise in Medieval history.

When his father stepped down from his position as Count around Christmas 1066 Guignes was a young and experienced man who was unwed and heirless. By the end of 1067 two of those problems were solved as his first wife, Jutta von Bocksburg, gave him a son named Ferrand. With his line secure Guignes spent the following decade improving his territory with everything from forestries, to libraries to churches but all the while he carefully fabricated territorial claims against his Northern neighbour, the Duke of Dauphine who ruled Forez and Lyon. During this period he remained loyal to Emperor Heinrich but when things start to fall apart in the Empire during the mid 1070s Guignes saw an opportunity he couldn’t pass up.

During February 1078 Guignes declared war upon the Duchy of Dauphine and invaded with his numerically superior army. In response to this the Emperor declared war on Dauphine Viennois, this led to the Duke of Provence (who was Guignes’ liege) declaring independence form the Empire and declare war against the Empire, shortly after this the Count of Savoy broke free from the Empire but Heinrich chose not to contest this. Between February and June Guignes personally led his Dauphinite army to several major victories over the Duke of Dauphine and on June 16th the Duke surrendered all his lands to Guignes although not his Ducal title. However the war was far from over and Guignes was forced to twice meet Heinrich himself in major battles in Dauphine Viennois, over the course of these two battles some 9,000 German troops were killed and just 3,000 Dauphinites. Realising that in the long-term he would be unable to hold on Guignes swore an oath of loyalty to Heinrich in October, thus breaking free form the Duchy of Provence which continued to war. The following year Provence was defeated and brought back into the Empire although Savoy and many other Italian states remained independent as Imperial power collapsed in Italy.

In barely a single year of war Guignes had amassed huge debts and it took two entire years to pay them off but early in the year 1080 he was able to pay Heinrich enough money to proclaim him Duke of Dauphine. This was a major turning point, now as a Duke Guignes wielded serious power and influence, now Guignes could expand once more. During the Autumn of 1080 Guignes got into a serious argument with the father of his second wife, Jehanne of Geneva, the disagreement soon escalated from insults to violence when Dauphinite merchants were murdered in Geneva. In late September Geneva broke free from the Empire and Guignes took pleasure in bringing the city back for his liege as he invaded and annexed it in October. The following month The Count of Savoy, who at this time was about equal to Guignes in terms of wealth and power requested that Guignes become his liege. Guignes dutifully brought another formerly Imperial province back into the Empire and virtually doubled his power in the process. Guignes would make one more conquest during his time as an Imperial vassal and that was the Alpine town of Valais which bordered Geneva. After its rebellion January Guignes invaded and annexed the town in March 1082.

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The story of the Duchy of Dauphine’s expansion between 1080 and 1082 is very similar to stories seen all around the Empire at the time as Duchies remained loyal to Heinrich against rebels as a means of expanding their power and like Guignes once they were strong enough the declared independence and joined many others in the war against the Emperor. Whilst things had been bad for Heinrich in the 1070s when the Italians broke free they would get immeasurably worse in the 1080s as Imperial power began t collapse in Germany too his the most powerful opponents to the Emperor were the Duchies of Lower Lorraine, Upper Lorraine and Saxony indeed the German Emperors would be in near constant war with at least one of these Dukedoms for the next century. Guignes did not aim to completely destroy the Empire, instead he hoped to wrestle all of Provence from him and leave his line with a large and wealthy demesne. During February 1084 Guignes declared his independence and went to war with both Heinrich and his puppet Duke in Provence, for the next year Guignes and Dauphine experienced serious hardships but also great victories as the destroyed all Imperial influence in the region and even marched as far as central Germany in their war against the Empire. However on March 6th Guignes secured a peace deal inn which he gain two provinces directly from the Empire and a further 3 which had been apart of the Duchy of Provence which was now fused with Dauphine.

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The next decade would be a period of peace and prosperity for the newly enlarged Dauphine which was now amongst the strongest Duchies in Europe, indeed during this period many took to calling it the Grand Duchy of Dauphine. However Heinrich’s Empire did not fare so well as ever more vassal broke free, some of the most important of which included Bohemia (which proclaimed itself as a Kingdom), Bavaria and Carinthia.

By 1096 Heinrich was on his last legs and his Empire seemed ready to fall into the abyss of history. At this moment Guignes struck a major blow against the Holy Roman Empire but in many ways he saved it from utter oblivion. At the start of the year Guignes invaded Alpine Burgundy, forcing several Counts to swear allegiance to him rather than the Emperor, by this point he ruled over 2/3s of the Kingdom of Burgundy and felt confident enough (with the Pope’s blessing) to declare himself the rightful King of Burgundy rather than the now excommunicated Heinrich. The Occitan armies of Dauphine then marched into central Germany where the last few Imperial fortresses were holding out against armies form Lorraine and Saxony. Here the last great Imperial army met Guignes’ host in battle near the city of Mainz. Heinrich was killed in the battle and shortly thereafter the city fell. Heinrich’s successor was the famous Emperor Siegfried who realised that he needed to bring an end to the wars with the major Duchies if the Holy Roman Empire was to survive and on Christmas Day 1096 he agreed to a double coronation with Guignes in which he gained the crowns of Germany and Italy (and the Holy Roman Empire) and Guignes was made King of Burgundy. Whilst this was probably a low point in Siegfried’s rule as he would later reunite almost all of Germany it was the pinnacle for Guignes as exactly 30 years after inheriting the County of Dauphine Viennois he was given the prestigious crown of Burgundy.

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Guignes lived out the rest of his days in peace and piety, being beatified upon his death in 1103 and canonized by the Pope during 1114. After becoming known as Saint Guignes, The Great he became the patron saint of the House of D’Albon and to this day statues of him can been seen throughout the world in regions at some point ruled by D’Albons. He was the model Medieval statesman and the model Medieval Christian.

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Upon his death the throne of Burgundy was given Guignes’ first son Ferrand.
 
Nice start - a classic rise from Count to King, and all done in a single reign. Very impressive! I like the colour-coded expansion maps, telling the story in pictures. In my County of Venaissin game I wanted to become King of Burgundy but Germany wasn't falling apart nearly so badly and I never managed it - had to settle in the end for being King of North Africa I think... :mad:
 
Good stuff, tommy. Are you planning on a moderate approach, taking entire France, entire Italy, or are you looking to establish a European empire?
 
Farquharson: I'm a fan of your Hohenstaufen AAR and glad to have you reading :). I got very lucky in this game as Germany often completely falls apart only to rebuild. They seemed to get into a pattern of one terrible Emperor who almost loses everything to one fantastic Emperor who rebuilds. This obviously gives me frequent opportunities ...

TRP: My initital goal is recreating middle Francia minus Italy. That would basically be a line from the Netherlands and Flanders dowin to Provence in the lands I currently rule. After that nothing less than the recreation of Rome itslef.

Kaisermuffin: Its a dolphin actually ;) and a pretty awesome coat of arms. ALL HAIL THE DOLPHIN CROWN!
 
Ferrand I
Lived: 1069-1139
Head of the House of D’Albon: 1103-1139
King of Burgundy: 1103-1139

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Ferrand I is very odd amongst the Medieval Kings of Burgundy in that he was never given a nickname by the chroniclers, in spite of a long reign. This led to a fashion of calling him Ferrand, the Plain or Ferrand, the Bland during the 19th and early 20th Centuries but these names are very unfair to what was arguably the most important D’Albon King of this period. So in respect for Ferrand we shall not blight his good name with such comments and merely refer to him as Ferrand or Ferrand I. Another strange aspect of his rule was the age at which he succeeded, at 34 he was already half way through his life but it would be another 150 years before another D’Albon King was crowned over the age of 14. Having around half his life as a minor noble seems to have given Ferrand a greater perspective on things than his successors who always seemed to seek glory whilst he only ever did what was best for the realm.

In the first years of Ferrand’s reign he dramatically changed the way in which the Kingdom of Burgundy was run changing the ruling law from the more traditional system used by his father, Guignes, to a Feudal Contract. This significantly decreased the power of the King making him a first among equal with his Dukes rather than an inherently superior force. Whilst this may seem to be a bad thing for the Royal Authority it had some very good consequences for both Ferrand and the D’Albon dynasty as they attempted to grow. On one hand it made many Lords currently apart of the more authoritative German and French Kingdoms wish to switch their allegiance to Burgundy and on the other it made the Nobility less likely to revolt allowing for great expansions of the realm in the future.

Sadly for Ferrand this change is not one to make him remembered like his illustrious father whose shadow he was never able to escape from. Indeed this is partly Ferrand’s own fault as he constantly spoke of his father’s successes and great piety. He actually petitioned the Pope on 3 separate occasions to have his father canonized before he was finally successful in 1114 and managed to grow a cult of personality around him. This all drew focus away from Ferrand and his perhaps the main reason why he is so often forgotten.

On the front of conquests he was not so lucky as Guignes in that the new Emperor, Siegfried was frustratingly strong and wise, indeed under his tenure 2/3s of what was lost by Heinrich was reclaimed and opportunities for continental expansion were few and far between. However during the year 1110 Ferrand was able to conquer the magnificently wealth Republic of Genoa which ruled both Nice and Genoa itself after his marshal had fought a bloody campaign against the Genoese mercenary army in which 20,000 people died in only a few short months. The following year he expanded against after his first born son, Aimeric, inherited the small Italian County of Montiferrato which he inherited through his mother Valentina di Motiferrato. However Aimeric was not able to simply switch allegiance from the Emperor to Ferrand as Siegfried, loath to lose any territory, sent over 30,000 men to the County’s border hoping to intimidate Aimeric into maintaining the County’s loyalty to him. However Ferrand rose to this challenge to his authority and sent an even larger army into the County to warn off Siegfried. In the end the Emperor was wise not to start a war over a poor Italian County which was already surrounded on 3 sides by Burgundy. Aimeric was then rewarded with the ducal title of Genoa although the city of Genoa itself remained in the royal demesne

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The next decade of Ferrand’s reign was again one of peace as the newly conquered Genoese brought the wealth flooding into the treasury. However soon the young militarized nobility began to become restless, spoiling for a fight. Indeed Ferrand actually promised to send a large army to fight in any Crusade that the Pope might call but his Holiness remained peaceful. The last Crusade had taken place during the 1070s and lead to a large French Crusader state being built in Northern Egypt around Alexandria. In the end Ferrand decided to go on a so called ‘’Independent Crusade’’ against the Arabs of North Africa. The Pope gave his blessing to expedition but refused to make it an official Crusade as Ferrand had hoped. However it proved to be the perfect release to the large armies of landless second sons seeking glory (and more importantly a fief) having been forced into the army by primogeniture.

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Between August 1120 and July 1121 battle raged across the Islamic Kingdom of Zenata as a Crusader army of perhaps 35,000 men did battle with the Arab host which was slightly smaller but terribly lacking in heavy horse. Two Kings of Zenata were killed in the fight before their final surrender to the Burundians at Tunis itself which was the last Zenatan city to fall. All of Zenata’s possessions in Africa were ceded to Burgundy with the King of Zenata forced into exile on Malta. After victory Ferrand was ordered by the Pope to enforce the Will of God upon the people of North Africa and forcibly covert them to Christianity. Thus Ferrand kept the conquered territory in his personal demesne as well as a large occupation force for the rest of his dayss as he outlawed Islam and tried to force Catholic Christianity on the populous. In the end this turned out to be a terrible mistake as only a couple of major cities (Constantine and Bizerte) were converted whilst the Burundians would face violent armed resistance for in the region for another 100 years.

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Just 5 years of relative peace would follow until Ferrand’s Kingdom was plunged into Civil War. The problem arose from Ferrand’s succession itself. Ferrand’s half brother, Ives, was the first son of Jehanne of Geneva but the second son of Guignes. Essentially there was a very large faction in Burgundy who believed that Ferrand’s mother Jutta von Bocksburg was not a virgin when she married Guignes as Ferrand was born just 8 months into the marriage, this would make Ferrand a bastard and Ives the rightful King. It seems the dates here are confused as Ferrand’s party insist that he was actually born after 8 months and 3 weeks,, saying he was conceived on his parent’s wedding night, however the Ives party insist adamantly that the true date was just 8 months and Ferrand was a bastard. Ives’ support was very strong, not only was he, as Duke of Savoy, the second most powerful magnate in Burgundy but his brother was Duke of Dauphin and he drew much support from the Swiss.

Whatever the truth was Burgundy fell into civil war during August 1126 as Ives alongside his brother, Adhemar, in Dauphin and one Swiss Count rose in rebellion. Although Ives gained less support from the Swiss Counts than expected he did manage to at one point bring Ferrand’s Palace in Dauphin Viennois under siege with the King trapped in side however he was still outnumbered 3 to 1 and both he, his brother and his Swiss supporters were subjugated by the end of 1127. Ives rose again about one year later but he stood alone and was defeated after only a few months. The House of Ives, as it would be known would continue to claim to be the rightful Kings of Burgundy for centuries to come and although the primary line remained trapped in Savoy Ives’ own second son would go out into Germany and later create a mighty dynasty of his own.

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From 1128 unto his death Ferrand lived peacefully gaining the allegiance of the Count of Besacon form France (1129) and the Count of Aaragau form Germany (1139) before passing away.

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Having lived to the ripe old age of 70 Ferrand’s son did not inherit the throne, neither did his grandson, in fact the next King was Ferrand’s great grandson Ives.

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With the Habsburg blood running strongly through the veins of the 13 year old boy King Ives upon his coronation, something was bound to go wrong. Indeed Burgundy’s 3rd King would be better known as Ives, the Crazed.
 
Ives the Crazed? Oh dear. Let me guess - it all started with the stress of becoming King when he was only 13... :eek:

Stressed Kings are fun :)
 
Ives, The Crazed
Lived: 1126-1147
Head of the House of D’Albon: 1139-1147
King of Burgundy: 1139-1147
King of Africa: 1145-1147

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When Ives ascended to the throne as a 13 year old boy he did so not as a little King but a little God. From a very young age he had built himself a divine image of himself. In his younger years he thought himself an invincible soldier of the Lord, impervious to any attack, yet as he grew older he became more and more paranoid eventually leading himself to his own death. Ives is usually seen as a useless fool but it must incredibly he not only held his realm together but expanded Burgundy’s borders and brought Christianity back to Tunis.

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During the regency years of 1139-1142 Burgundy was rather prosperous. In 1140 the city of Pavia, which had come under the control of one of the descendants of Ferrand’s half-brother Ives, swore allegiance to the boy King thus expanding Burgundian influence in Italy. Back at court in Dauphine Viennois young Ives decided to have the court of arms of the House of D’Albon changed to a design of his own making. The colour of the dauphin was changed to red to symbolise the King’s wrath if opposed and the background was changed to blue to symbolise the King’s fabulous wealth. Over this period the King seemed to be growing gradually less stable with frequent swings in personality between the invincible warrior of God to a paranoid wimp envisioning daggers around every corner.

When Ives took over from the regency in 1142 he instantly began an ambitious attempt to reform the Church of Burgundy, effectively looking to give the crown patriarchal powers. On December 12th 1142 the Diocese Bishop of Burgundy confronted the King and demanded that he end his reforms. Believing that the Bishop wished to usurp him Ives lashed out, stabbing the Bishop in the chest. Ives instantly relented and brought an end to his brief reformation, instead organising a Crusade in Africa to atone for his sins.

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A hastily organised army crossed the Med in January 1143, arriving in Tunis at the end of the month. Ives personally led his army against the Kingdom of Beni-Helal-Zirigid (a union of three Muslim Houses that ruled Malta and an area to the South of Burgundian North Africa). At this point Ives seemed to be questioning whether he truly was ‘’God’s anointed warrior’’ and so marched into battle on foot and without armour as a test to see if he truly could be slain. Remarkably not only did Ives avoid any injury but he was able to crush Beni-Helal-Zirgid in just a few months. It seemed not only to Ives but many of his subjects that he truly was protected and commanded by God himself. The next 2 years would be a miniature Golden Age for Burgundy as its wealth flourished, great cathedrals were established and a castle building spree swept across the Kingdom. In 1145 Ives returned to Africa at the apex of his power and crushed the Sheik of Tripoli and annexed the city. He then returned to Tunis where he had himself named King of All Africa and crowned with a crown of thorns incrusted with gold. The young King was invincible and just in the short period of a few weeks he spent in Tunis after his coronation he personally oversaw the mass conversions of tens of thousands of Tunisians who were in awe of his incredible aura.

Things would never be so good again; his successes in Africa had given Ives the confidence and affirmation of his heavenly mission and he became arbitrary and cruel in his rule. When visiting Genoa Ives and a small bodyguard tore an old woman from her home and the King himself publicly beat her to death in the street. Her only crime had been to adopt an orphaned Muslim child. Ives began to have statues of himself placed alongside those of Jesus in churches and looked to undermine the Pope’s authority in his Kingdom at every turn.

By early 1147 however Ives had become a recluse in his palace. Around this time he began to keep a diary where the shocking extent of his paranoia is revealed by pages detailing alleged conspiracies against him. From early June he seemed to focus his fears around an attempted coup by the nobles who would place his baby son Doumenge on the throne. By the end of the month he had concluded that the only way to ensure that ‘’God’s holy mission’’ could continue would be to sacrifice his son and heir.

The events of July 4th 1147 are still very unclear but the most commonly respect version of events goes as follows. Ives waited until late at night, fearing that the conspirators may second guess his plan, and snuck into the room of the baby Prince armed with a dagger. Baby Doumenge then began to burst out in tears. At this moment the guard to Doumenge’s room rushed in and saw the King standing over his son’s cot holding his dagger aloft. Despite recognising the King the guard, one Louis Chauvont, rushed at him and tackled him to the floor. In the ensuing struggle Ives’ neck was snapped. After this Louis Chauvont was arrested and after giving a lengthy explanation of what happened (which the above theory is based on) was executed.

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At just 2 years old Doumenge, Ives’ only child, was crowned King of Burgundy and Africa. As the regency council went about undoing much of the work of Ives (including changing the coat of arms back to its original state) a young Monarch was growing. Doumenge, The Crusader would become the model Christian King as pious as he was powerful.
 
Thanks Farquharson! I read your comment in the WoW thread and will make sure the AARward passes on to another section of the forum :)

Enewald: regicide is still regicide even if the King's insane

Eron: Doumenge actually turns out to be an incredibly good King. The next few Kings will bring some very good times for Burgundy :)
 
Doumenge, The Crusader
Lived: 1144-1196
Head of the House of D’Albon: 1147-1196
King of Burgundy and Africa: 1147-1196

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As a baby Doumenge came close to death when his unstable father attempted to murder him but this tragic event actually saw the crazed King Ives die and baby Doumenge succeed to one of the great thrones of Christendom. Over the course of his long reign he became the ideal Christian warrior King, a ‘Crusader King’ if there ever was one and was one of the greatest Kings of Burgundy. During his reign Burgundy fought many wars but just one against a fellow Christian state and at that time the ruler was excommunicated. Doumenge also established D’Albon dominance over the papacy for the very first time and during his reign the very first D’Albon Popes were elected.

The regency years of Doumenge’s reign large scale peaceful expansion. Although in 1147 (the year of his succession) the independent isle of Menorca was taken from the Moslems in a war left over from Ives’ rule. Meanwhile Burgundy peacefully took over the prosperous city of Parma which switched allegiance from the Empire to Burgundy whilst in 1153 the battered Duchy of Barcelona joined the Kingdom and in the same year the Duchy of Toulouse did likewise having lost a war to the French but preserved independence.

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However in the East more important events were occurring. Alexandria had been Christian ever since the 1st Crusade of the 1070s and 1080s but in the year 1156 a rejuvenated Fatimid Caliphate overwhelmed the city and slaughtered its French rulers. In response the Pope called for a great Crusade against the Fatimids to conquer Jerusalem (the primary goal) and reclaim Alexandria (the secondary goal).

The first to answer the call was Burgundy and in early 1157 a massive army was assembled in Nice, setting sail for the Holy Land in March. Despite protests pf the teenage King Doumenge was forced to stay at home whilst a cousin of his (Richard D’Albon) lead the armies. On December 3rd 1157 25,000 Burgundians landed near the rebel town of Jaffa. This Bugundian army was equal in number to the entire Egyptian host. The 1st Burgundian Crusade had begun.

After capturing Jaffa the army split in two with 1/3 heading North to Acre and 2/3 heading directly for Jerusalem. The fortress at Acre was relatively small and fell without difficulty, the city’s sheik then surrendered it to Burgundy. Meanwhile at Jerusalem the Crusaders met their first major opposition.

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Near the most Holy of Cities the main Burgundian host met a much larger Egyptian army. The Egyptians initially took the upper hand as they were able to force the Crusader infantry to rout but as they went to pursue them the mighty cavalry host (which included some 2,000 knights) charged directly at the Egyptians. The Moslems were slaughtered and the Fatimid King himself only narrowly avoided capture although he was wounded by a Christian’s knight’s lance.

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Buoyed by their success the Crusader army then proceeded to assault Jerusalem itself and although facing some terrible casualties the city fell to the armies of Christ. The Islamic inhabitants of the city were slaughtered to the last man and although many Jews were killed as the Burgundians rampaged through the city many of them were able to survive by seeking refuge in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which was defended by a number of more chivalrous Burgundian knights.

After this the Burgundian armies began to rampage through the Egyptian Levant taking town after town form the Fatimids before finally meeting the King once again, this time at the city of Ascalon which had repeatedly alluded Christian capture. Here 13,000 Burgundians (the entire Crusader army) did battle with 15,000 Arabs (the entire reaming Egyptian army. This two sides ground eachother into the dust and only 2,000 Burgundians escaped whilst 4,000 Arabs survived. After this it was decided by both sides to end the slaughter and the 1st Burgundian Crusade came to an end on March 4th 1149 with the Treaty of Jaffa.

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With Jerusalem in Christian hands the Pope was elated and declared the Crusade over. This did not stop the Bohemians and French preying on the weakened Caliphate and capturing most of Egypt during the early 1160s. Meanwhile immediately after the Crusade the 15 year old King of Burgundy went on pilgrimage to his new conquests and indeed came of age in the Holy Land.

Upon his return the regency was disbanded and the great King Doumenge took full control. One of his first triumphs was convincing another French Duke to switch allegiance to Burgundy, in this case it was Bourbon. Ever since the Crusade Doumenge had been the toast of Christendom and in the year 1163 the Pope made him his Champion, a post Doumenge would retain until 1178. The King got his first chance to lead his armies to glory in the year 1165 as he went on an unofficial Crusade against the powerful Emirate of Cyrenaica. Between January and August 1165 the King crushed the Arabs in battle after battle and in August the victorious King signed a peace treaty in which the last of Tripolitania as well as Cyrenaica was ceded to Burgundy.

A long and peaceful period then ensued as Burgundy began to feel he benefits of its holdings in the East as the trade began to flow freely between Acre and Genoa bringing massive wealth to the crown.

Then in 1175 Doumenge lead his armies North into Danish Lorraine to take part in the dismemberment of the Empire of the heretical King of Demark. After a brief conflict the King of Denmark agreed to cede Lorraine, Metz and Santois. Then in 1179 several African Dukes lead out their armies to conquer the pirate haven of Mallorca from the Arab pirated who ruled the island. Then in 1181 a small county betwixt Barcelona and the main part of the Kingdom agreed to join Burgundy. In the year 1183 the relatively new holdings in Lorraine were connected to the main part of the Kingdom just as Barcelona had been 2 years earlier thanks to an independent Count swearing allegiance to Doumenge.

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In the year 1184 an Arab army captured Rome, the Pope then fled to Dublin but sent out a request for all Christian Kings to reclaim the city form the Moors. In 1185 the Norman Duchy of Apulia conquered the city (keeping it for themselves) however Doumenge had already organised his expedition. Early in 1186 he declared war on a Sicilian Emir instead. Over the course of 1186 Doumenge personally lead his armies on a great Crusade against an extremely powerful Sicilian Emir who ruled half the island. Both Christian and Muslim sources talk of his incredible bravery and heroics as he lead his army from the front. One source talked of his valour at Trapani ‘’the King and his stead charged alone into a band of dozens of heathens. Even after his horse was cut down he continued to fight, slaying every last Moor’’ the Emirare was crushed.

Meanwhile in 1188 the first D’Albon Pope was elected, unsurprisingly he chose Doumenge as his Champion and ruled until 1194. In 1190 this Poe requested Doumenge’s assistance in finally eliminating the moors in Sicily, which the good King did in that very year by capturing Palermo from a small but powerful sheik. Now all of Italy and Sicily was Muslim free although the Count of Messina was an Imperial and not Burgundian vassal Doumenge was satisfied.

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Despite his advancing years and tired bones Doumenge accepted the Pope’s request to relieve Antioch as he led a he expedition across the Mediterranean in 1192 at the age of 48. Between February 1192 and March 1193 Doumenge did battle with the mighty Emirate of Tripoli which was much more powerful than Egypt had been in the 1st Burgundian Crusade. However this time the Burgundians benefited from a great numerical advantage and in 1193 the Emirate of Tripoli agreed to surrender 4/5s of their land to the Burgundian Holy Land in the Treaty of Acre.

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At the same time a great event occurred as Doumenge’s grandson, Guy, inherited the most powerful Duchy on earth (Flanders).

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Little Guy did not have long to wait for an even greater inheritance as just 4 years later he was named King of Burgundy after the great King Doumenge, The Conqueror passed away in 1196.

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Both Guy’s inheritances had been rather unexpected as the Duke of Flanders had had 2 sons ahead of him in the line of succession. The younger of the 2 died in infancy just 4 years before his father whilst the elder died at the age of 17 in 1190 just 2 years before the Duke himself died. Meanwhile Guy’s father Louis was still alive when Guy was named King (and would indeed outlive him) but had been declared a heretic by the Pope after starting a cult in his personal demesne in the Balearics and was cut out of the inheritance. When Gut was crowned King he united Flanders with Burgundy turning the D’Albon Kingdom into the most powerful in Christendom.