Unwanted Vassal Republics

[Ashleigh]

I'm currently holding the Kingdom of Wales and working on expanding into England with the help of powerful allies. My government type is Absolute Cognatic Primogeniture (first born child of the ruler inherits all titles regardless of gender) but all these vassal republics keep popping up all over the place within my realm. I know the republics can be great moneymakers but the cons are outweighing the pros for me at the moment. Republics are elective so every time I finally get my direct vassals (who are almost all mayors) to approve of me, they die and a new mayor is elected who hates me and I have to start the process all over again, not to mention that they all just flat-out hate my guts to begin with no matter how great of a ruler I am, because, according to them, I'm the wrong government type.

I'd like to turn all these republics into something hereditary (preferably gavelkind succession, keeps them too weak to rise up against me and at least I always know who's going to take over when my vassals die). I don't care much about their gender laws, I don't think they can adopt absolute cognatic without being basque, Cathar or Messalian anyway. How could I go about doing that? Will simply revoking all their titles and giving them to my family members instead solve my problem? I think I've tried that before and the family member I gave the title to just ended up being a mayor of a republic, anyway.

 

[FraterPsychonaut]

You have to give the title to a feudal ruler. The first title you give them should determine whether they're feudal or republican, unlanded courtiers (including relatives) will change their type based on what type of barony they are landed to (this includes the capitol of a county). Also be careful when landing relatives and mixing government types, I think there is a bug with feudal heirs of a republic and vice versa if they are of the same dynasty.

 

[Ashleigh]

So I would have to revoke the titles of those mayors (including the cities and the baronies) which should turn the baronies into castles since I am a feudal ruler, then give them to other people in my court who like me better? Unfortunately, pretty much every county not under my direct control has somehow turned into a republic province so the pickings are pretty slim for actual feudal rulers in my realm except for myself. Theoretically, if I hold all those provinces (including the cities and baronies in them), they should all become feudal counties, the baronies should convert to castles and then I can give the land out to whoever I want in my court. If the provinces and all the holdings in them have converted to a feudal government type, I'd be giving a landless person in my court a feudal title which would make them a feudal lord and then the republic nonsense would be no more, right?

I wouldn't have a problem with republics if I didn't take such a huge opinion hit with my republican vassals but it makes ruling as anything other than a republic a massive headache and I definitely don't want to make all of Wales a republic. I dislike playing as any government type where my successor isn't guaranteed to be of my dynasty.

 

[FifthMonarchy]

If the county revoked has a castle barony in it and you revoke the grand city, I think granting the county to the existing baron if there is one (or the barony first then the county) should leave you with a feudal ruler.

 

[FraterPsychonaut]

Pretty much you're correct, but you do need to manually check that the county capital is the castle and not the city if you want it to stay feudal. One trick is to find a feudal baron and grant him the county/duchy and he'll do the work for you (revoking & switching capitals, etc). Know that republics never give up territory without a fight, so prepare for that. Another idea that would keep the best of both worlds is to strip the republic(s) down to only one city/barony (and no vassals) in the capital of a feudal ducal vassal (with all the counties going to your feudal vassals) and their rivalry will be with the duke but they'll be too weak to do anything about it.

edit. ninja'd -partially.

 

[Ashleigh]

Okay, thanks, I'll try that. How do I switch capitals of a county? I know how to switch the capital of my realm but I wasn't aware you could do the same with counties. I'm not worried about the barons fighting back when I try to take their titles away, this is a multiplayer file with my brother and he holds both Ireland and Scotland. He can easily help me squish any revolts I can't handle on my own.

edit: I managed to sort out the problem. I revoked the titles of every mayor in my realm, gave out counties and duchies to feudal rulers, then gave out the cities I was getting dinged for to those same feudal rulers and now things are good again. Thanks for the help. The republics were tearing my realm apart.