HRE NES III: Italienische Vorherrschaft

[bipolarbear]

Discovering European History Ch. 13: Swabia -

Circa 950 AD the Grand Duchy of Swabia was a crumbling empire beset by Magyar raids and ruled by the headstrong yet benevolent Monarch, Burchard II. It was at about this time that he had commissioned the construction of 5 Castles, remnants of which can still be found today.

Central most to her territory is the ducal castle, Smorgasberg, where Court was held. To the south is the intricate Ducal Castle Lupustein, widely renowned at the time for the intricate carvings Burchard had put upon every wooden surface, even the seats of his chairs. Deciding that the final three castles would be Baronial instead of Ducal, he called his commanders Landgraf Sibold Von Zalringen, Landgraf Welf von Stuttgart, Vizegraf Bernard von Thurgau to the Swabian court to discuss their Baronial Castles.

Duke "Lear" Burchard, who was fond of pomp and circumstance in all matters, bawdily called for a map of his kingdom to be delivered and set upon the cortroom floor for all to see. Once placed he, with his bejewled ducal scepter in hand, tapped upon three points in his vast kingdom. Boldly he declared that each of these represented a castle which he would bestow upon one of his commanders. With some no repose he confessed that he had yet to decide which of his commanders would inherit which castle. As such he had concoted a scheme by which to decide who would win which castle.

He called upon his Commanding officers to profess their undying devotion to his command to aid in his decision. After much ado which included crawling, crying, and Thurgau pledging his first born male child to Burchard it was decided.

Thurgau would inherit the Easternmost Castle, Zalringen the Westernmost, and Stuttgart the Castle just Northeast of Smorgasberg.

[bipolarbear]

Hey, sorry for the double post, I forgot to include this.

[Micha]

Originally posted by Micha
King Heinrich of Germany to the German Dukes

My brothers in arms, now that the war in the south is won, we need to shift our attention to other threats. In the East, the Magyars may resume their pillaging at any time, while to the north my heartland is exposed to insane heathen warriors from two sides. I will muster as many men as I can to bring to an honorable end what I have set out to do years ago: The restoration of Christian authority in Friesland. I call upon you, my loyal brethren, to assist me in this crucial affair. While I am hoping for men, you might see it fit to send gold or weaponry instead. Please consider the opportunities which await! The Frisians are our port to the Lands of the English, the trade routes need to be opened again! Getting rid of the Viking menace to our West as soon as possible will also allow me to free more men for campains on the Bavarian or Bohemian borders... The spoils of war will be divided between you alone, as I am only interested in destroying the heathen yoke on Frisia!

Duke Burchard!!!

[foolish_icarus]

Franconian Orders

Policy

Leave Pepin be. I shall not be known as Eberhard the Unentomber.

My ducal castle will be right near Frankfurt. I intend to make my other castle a baronial castle, granted to Vizegraf Teutomar von Würzburg, and situated in the east somewhere between Bamberg and Meissen.
My ducal castle will be called Bestrebenendgultig. Bestreben is an acceptable nickname.

Grant a Stadtrecht to the town of Worms.

Bring Berengar back to Franconia and put him in prison. A nice, healthy, comfortable prison. A secure prison.

Drag all that looted battlefield stuff back and put it in the armory, except for 20 heavy armour suits, 410 pavises, and 80 polearms, which Saxony will collect.

Treasury

Reduce tax rate to 5%.

Hold 2183 d. worth of spoils each for Bavaria and Bohemia that they can send an official delegation to come pick up at their leisure (Bavaria's, at least, could probably be dropped off along the way).
2183 d. of spoils goes into our own usable funds.

1000 d. to the church in Mainz.

Personal

Visit Duke Gilbert of Lotharingia.

Send accolades to Duke Burchard II of Swabia for excellent choice of castle names.

Defensive

In an emergency 1000 levies equipped liberally from our armory may be used.

Emergency mercenary budget 800 d.

[appleciders]

OK, so those are difficult to see. The ones on the Bohemian border and Carinthian border are baronial castles, the other two (near the capital and the Brenner Pass) are Ducal castles. Names forthcoming.

[Micha]

King Heinrich of Germany to Duke Eberhard III of Franconia

My trusted friend and brother in arms,

May I ask what kind of aid you have decided to send north? Also, from the loot of our southern campaign, Saxony claims the 20 heavy armour suits and the 80 polearms for her armouries, as the upcoming Frisian campaign will require heavily armed troops. If those pavises are free to take, I´d appreciate them (or a good portion of them), too.

King Heinrich of Germany to Duke Vratislaus I of Bohemia and Duke Burchard II of Swabia

Some time has passed since I called for military aid, yet I haven´t heard a word of you. May I ask for the reasons for that? The Frisian campaign is scheduled to start in the upcoming spring, so what kind of contribution can I expect from you, my ducal brothers?

[foolish_icarus]

Duke Eberhard III of Franconia to King Heinrich of Germany

You may of course take anything from that portion of loot-- Franconia lays no claim to any of it and simply I simply chose to bring it along for the future use of any Duchy rather than abandon it.

My men cannot campaign this season, as they will need a year to set their homes back in order. Next year when my duchy has had a brief chance to replenish itself I will commit men, material, and money. All I can offer right now is the use of any equipment from my personal armory, should you have need of any of it.

[bipolarbear]

Orders

350 Denarii shall be spent to expand copper mining efforts in the demesne. With the goal of the funding being to increase the quantity of copper mined the Denarii shall be spent to properly outfit and employ more miners, perferably those with some manner of experience in the industry.

300 Denarii shall be spent to further expand the wine making operations of the Swabian people. Experienced and successful vintners will be given the funding to expand and refine their operations to first increase yields, and second produce finer and mroe exotic varieties of wine.

350 Denarii shall be spent to help expand the timber gathering efforts within Swabia by properly outfitting and employing more lumberjacks, preferably those with some manner of experience.

300 Denarii shall be sent to King Heinrich of Germany to aid in the defense against the Magyar raiders.

300 Denarii shall be spent to quell the forces of corruption in the Swabian empire by vigorous investigation into the financial records of government officials and programs. The most unabashed and inveterate offenders are to be first publicly humiliated as traitors and then executed. While all others will be forced to work in the iron mines to repay their debt to Swabia until they, in old age, become feeble and unproductive, or simply die.

200 Denarii shall be split evenly between the Diocese of Augsburg and Strassburg.

100 Denarii shall be placed in the Treasury for safekeeping.

A Stadrecht is granted to any notable merchant or nobleman willing to found a town in North Eastern Swabia at the point of convergence of the Franconian, Bavarian, and Swabian borders named Süßlichwasser.

55 Denarii shall be taken from the treasury and spent overseeing that the forces of corruption in the Swabian empire do not interfere with any of the transactions listed herein.

Diplomacy

Duke Burchard II of Swabia to King Heinrich of Germany
I beg your forgiveness for my belated reply. I was embroiled in a fierce arm wrestling tournament with my son which I lost and the resultant depression has delayed my response. I have sent to you 300 denarii to be used in our endeavor against the Magyar raiders. I also grant to you permission to use 415 suits of light armor, and 180 spears from my armory.

[Cyclotron]

As we haven't heard much from Nimitz, I will be taking on Bohemia for now. The space will be freed up in the coming update.

Duke Vratislaus I of Bohemia, Prince of Moravia, to King Heinrich of Germany
My lord, I have been otherwise engaged with the re-conquering of Moravia. Between the marriage between my house and that of the Polans and the truce with the Magyars, I am free to devote some of my forces to your aid. I do, however, face significant threats from the Wends and from pagan rebels in my land, where Christianity has not yet shone widely as it has in your domains. While I cannot devote my full force, as I need my nobles here and on their estates, I have ordered my son and heir to meet you with 80 knights and their retainers.

I have also set aside some denarii lately, and have been in contact with a Frisian mercenary captain named Frerik, currently residing in your own city of Bremen. He and his 300 men have agreed to join my contingent for a good price, which was lower than usual as he too desires Friesland to be free. All the arrangements have been taken care of.

[appleciders]

Bavarian Orders(incomplete, unless the deadline comes, in which case do what you have to)

Call up 150 knights and their retainers and send them off to the service of the King under Freiherr Visloff der Kroat.

The entirety of the production of the stone mines (50d.) will go to Markgraf Eberhard to help fortify and expand the Mark.

Call up 1000 soldiers to defend the Duchy if we're invaded and equip them from the armory.

500d. to the expansion, upkeep, and improvement of roads throughout the duchy but especially in the Brenner Pass region. I hope that this can help improve the trade routes into wealthy Italy.

960d. (including 40d. in timber, to be doubled for an effective expenditure of 1000d.) to build harbors in Passau and Linz.

500d. to improve the walls in Trento.

Call up three new generals of impeccable loyalty.

OOC: Now, the King has the power to appoint archbishops, right? Does that power fall to King Heinrich, as he's my lord, I'm von Brenner's lord, and von Brenner currently holds Trento? Or is there an Italian power which controls that diocese?

[Cyclotron]

Originally posted by appleciders
Bavarian Orders(incomplete, unless the deadline comes, in which case do what you have to)

The deadline has been set to the 5th, and will come then unless I'm specifically asked to postpone it. So far nobody has requested this.

OOC: Now, the King has the power to appoint archbishops, right? Does that power fall to King Heinrich, as he's my lord, I'm von Brenner's lord, and von Brenner currently holds Trento? Or is there an Italian power which controls that diocese?

The Diocese was originally part of the Duchy of Friuli, which is now under the control of King Rudolph II, but he officially ceded control of it to you.

This brings up an interesting point - he gave the territory to Arnulf, not Germany. Many might interpret this to mean that the Bishopric is technically not in Germany or the Bavarian Duchy, but rather a separate fief which you hold from King Rudolph, making you a technical vassal of two different kings for different fiefs (historically, this was not terribly rare). There are both potential advantages and drawbacks to this - if you are a vassal of Rudolph, he might be more inclined to aid you in the future; on the other hand, he may expect military support from you beyond what would normally be requested of a mere ally. Rudolph has not really said anything specific on the issue. The power to appoint the Bishop, then, lies either with King Rudolph or King Heinrich, depending on who you ask.

Von Brenner has nothing to do with this; he doesn't outrank the Bishop, nor is the Bishop his vassal. The appointment of bishops has so far been traditionally granted to Kings.

[appleciders]

Hmmm... Then I'll have to:

Duke Arnulf of Bavaria to King Heinrich of Germany
My lord, I have been having trouble with the Bishop of Trento. His position lies within your jurisdiction- could I ask you to conduct an inquiry and possibly have him replaced for advocating rebellion against myself? If Bavarian Italy can be suitably pacified, I may be able to draw of additional forces for your ventures in the Netherlands.

[Cyclotron]

A reminder and a clarification:

- Remember, I may miss orders if they aren't in your orders post. Stuff that you say you are going to do in diplomacy should still be repeated in your orders post so I don't miss it.
- Defensive orders always take precedence over other expenditures. If you defensive orders are activated and there are insufficient funds in your treasury, your normal orders will be scrapped until there is enough money for defense.

The deadline is tomorrow! Get those orders in and done.

[Micha]

Duchy of Saxony - Orders

• Grant a Zinnenrecht for the region of Meissen to Landgraf Johann von Zwickau
• Grant him the income of the woad production of the March of Meissen for the next year
• send architects and engineers to him, as well as 500 denarii
• send him four longships and let him access the armouries as soon as our Frisian army is outfitted
• grant 600 denarii as well as enough land to support a monastery to the monks of the archbishop
• The Rendsburg is to be transferred to Theoderic von Norden
• claim 20 heavy armour suits, 80 polearms and 410 pavises from the Italian loot for our armouries
• tranfer 415 suits of light armour and 180 spears from the Swabian armouries to ours
• gather the allied troops and Frerik's mercenaries near Bremen
• call up the vassals and order them to Bremen
• call up 1200 levy troops and eqip them as follows: 110 Heavy Guards (heavy, shield, polearm); 410 Siege Archers (pavise, composite bow, bow); 680 swordsmen (light, shield, sword)
• let the retainers access ou armouries after that but write down which vassal´s troops took what
• name the new Army (levy, vassals and mercenaries) "Frisian Army" and let it march to von Norden´s army. He will take command of it and see to its deployment. Goal is to lure the Vikings out by feigning retreat and crush them with cavalry when they´re dispersed and exhausted
• Equip the fleet of six longships with Frisian seamen (fund them with 60 denarii) and have it support von Norden

[Cyclotron]

Alright folks, work on the update has begun. In fact, I already know what happens in Friesland. Suspenseful! So anyway, it’s time to let you in on…

Another Rule Change
As you know, commanders were rated by Loyalty, Competence, Charisma, Aggression, Bravery, and Ingenuity. This remains fairly consistent, but has been clarified somewhat. Competence is now Cleverness; instead of competence in battle (what exactly does that mean?) it means canniness and a generally quick wit, which is useful both on and off the field (though, with low loyalty, it becomes a big problem). A general with low Cleverness could still be a good one, it’s just that his tactics would be straightforward and rather unimaginative. On the other hand, shrewdness alone doesn’t make a great general.

Ingenuity, which originally meant siege skill but expanded over time to mean mathematics as well, has been changed to Education. This stat is computed differently than the others; unlike the rest, which can range from 1 to 9 but average at 4-6, education averages quite low. Nobles who are illiterate (most are) generally have an education level of 3 or less. Promoting education, whether through palace schools or abbeys, will increase the average education of your nobles (though most nobles, unless young, will not increase their education level over the rest of their lifetimes – they’re too old, busy, and set in their ways to bother with schooling). Education still might have a bearing on skill at siege warfare, but this is now something that has more to do with the siege technology of your people rather than the skills of any one commander. If anything, cleverness will have more of a bearing on this than education.

Because of these and other changes, many of the blurbs about generals were either outdated or inaccurate. Updating them is one of the projects for this update.