Crusader Kings II Co-op Game Thread!

The Game Room
261

For the record, here’s the list of the top armies…wait, why am I writing down those figures? Here’s a picture, rather :
Independant states sorted by military power

By the way, I quitted taking notes (that often I couldn’t even comprehend after some game years, or even sometimes reread). Instead, I take screenshots where the information is clearly appearing (the action I’m about to take, for instance). Then, I just look up the diaporama while writing my report. Much quicker, convenient and accurate (and I have a lot of screenshots to post to boot).

262

Also, a last information. Greece is very large (I know that because I happen play a greek noble in an individual game) It includes Greece, part of the souther Balkans, a bunch of islands and the western coast of Anatolia (including Byzance) and has something like 35-40 counties. I’m not sure what are the victory conditions for a crusade, in fact. Is it like any regular war (getting a 100% warscore) or do you need to conquer the majority of the attacked kingdom (Greece in this case) or something like that?

Again, a picture of the de jure kingdom of Greeceis better than words

263

Nah, assassinate him with a plot, not from the diplomacy screen. That’s free, or at least much cheaper with bribes. I’ve assassinated about fifteen Khans over two decades in a different game.

Yes, Mongol armies are really tough. Their cavalry archers will really maul you in the skirmish phase of a battle. You need to do something to minimize them in particular, like defending a river crossing.

264

With a plot? I can pick who I want to assassinate with a plot? How do I do that?

I only ever killed someone with a plot by clicking on the “click to choose a plot” tab and picking one of the characters listed there (typically only my wife and a couple people I might inherit from)
:eek: Wow…I just found the little “plot” icon on the portraits. I had never noticed it :smack: Does it ever shows an other option than “assassinate”, by the way? I tried it with vassals, for instance, and there are no “revoke” plot proposed for them, for instance.

Now, I wonder what is the point of the direct assassination, if you can target anybody with a plot. It suddenly seems way too easy…

265

I’ve never seen it do anything except an “assassinate” plot. Seriously, pick a country you don’t like and put them on an assassination merry-go-round. That’s how I hammered the Mongols into two concurrent succession crises. A new ruler is vulnerable to those assassination plots, and if you’re always assassinating them, they’re always new!

Direct assassination is important if you need instant gratification or if there just aren’t enough people who want to join your plot. It’s much less useful, though.

266

OK, I’m copying/pasting a post I made on the Paradox forum, because discovering this “assassinate” button appears like a complete game-changer to me, so I’d want some opinions.

To explain a bit : I played a number of games, and somehow never noticed the “plot” button on everybody’s portrait.

As a result I only ever assassinated people who were on the “choose a plot” list (typically only your spouse, sometimes someone you would inherit from), or by a direct assassination in the diplomacy screen, which is costly, typically unlikely to work, and risky ( “Attempt to assasinate X for 3 000 gold. You have a 4% chance of success and 83% chance of being discovered, and everybody will hate you for this”. I’m exagerating a bit, but not that much. Using it is a big bet, or a last ditch attempt.)

Now, the existence of this button seems like a solution to almost every problem. Eliminating the claimant in a claim war which is turning badly. Plunging the ennemy empire in a succession war before you attack. Getting rid of the guy leading the election for some crown. Avoiding inheritances out of the realm/family. Eliminating the stupid choice of a spouse by your heir, making sure you’ll inherit a realm despite being only 5th in line or before the current holder could have a child, and so on…

In fact, it seems like this would have solved most of the issues I ever had in game and had either to deal with or to solve in a more creative way (of course, if your ruler is really pathetic, these assassination plots won’t work, but most of the time, they will, and it will be much cheaper than the “diplomatic assassination”)

As a result of not having ever noticed it before, using this button now feels like cheating big time to me. As if I had just found the “infinite hit points” button in some other kind of game. Your thoughts on the isssue?

267

A couple things: plot-based assassinations aren’t always an option. Sometimes you can’t get enough conspirators to do anything for love or money. For instance, in the game I’m playing right now I simply can’t assassinate the Fatimid Sultan or the Doge of Venice with a plot, and I really want to do so. You absolutely can still get caught and take “dishonorable” or “kinslayer” penalties, and they’re considerable. You can try to kill all your brothers, but if you do, you’re going to get caught at it at least once and kinslayer is about -3 to diplomacy and a massive -50 opinion penalty to either all your family or all your vassals.

268

1308

Having others compelling matters to attend to, I eventually decided not to join the Crusade now, and see how things would go.

As planned, in January, I launched a claim war against the doge of Girgenti. I called about one third of my vassals’ forces for this operation (26 000 men). I had also another issue to take care of. I had the opportunity to arrest the duke Fernan of Aragon, and I didn’t intend to let this one pass. He had always hated me and for some reason had always been a very popular choice for my succession (in fact, he had been my heir until I could impose Tello II). If something went seriously wrong, he could become again my successor, so i wanted to get rid of him.

He resisted arrest and revolted (which is what I hoped). I raised my demesne’s soldiers, along with some stragglers from the Italian wars (like an Irish troop that happened to be sailing nearby) who weren’t needed there anymore after the early defeat of the Doge’s army.

Not long after, the duke of Mallorca tries to pull the same trick used by the duke of Valence (IIRC) at the beginning of my previous war. He revokes the title of the countess of Mallorca and she rises in revolt. I wonder if it’s a coincidence or if nobles actually wait for a time of war to settle their issues. However, the situation is a bit different from the example of Valence. The countess happens to be the spouse of the duke of Munster, who isn’t pleased. Each side begins besieging the other’s holding.

Once the first movements and battles have been taken care of, I begin to attend to administrative matters. In particular, a number of bishops don’t like me that much, and prefer sending their taxes to Rome. I had mentioned that the kingdom’s laws weren’t the same in the the fourth crowns I was holding. Looking more closely, I notice that the bishop investiture is free only in Aragon (two bishops) but that it irritates the Pope exactly as much as if it were the case in all of Hispania. I can’t change the crown’s law during a civil war, so this will have to wait but definitely has to be taken care of. Meanwhile I invite a holy man to my court to nominate him as successor of the two Aragonese bishops…and he turns out to be a genius. Must be my lucky day, I had never seen that. I keep the genius at my court for later use (and invite another holy man for bishop duties).

Then, I begin to plan for my next move. An independent county has formed in Kroton, in southern Italy. Obviously, this will be my next target. So, I send my Chancellor and successor Tello II to fabricate a claim there. I then notice that he has now 32 in diplomacy. I didn’t even know it was possible. I also choose him to mentor my half sister Aragonta who has a claim on Wales and could be a card to play if his brother, for some reason, doesn’t inherit this kingdom.

While I take a general look at more or less everything just in case it would give me ideas, I notice in the official genealogy that we had a king Jaime the drunkard. I don’t remember anybody flaunting about that in the official chronicles of the realm.

In May, probably thinking a crusade against the Khagan wasn’t enough, the Kaiser declares a holy war for some piece of land against the Hazaraspid Shah. I dutifully note the existence of this powerful sovereign, whose kingdom extends to the Mediterranean coast and to Armenia (apparently, while the Mongols were invading Greece he was seizing the eastern part of the Byzantine Empire). A couple weeks later the Queen of Burgundy, probably jealous, declares her own holy war on “Marzoban Anushirvan of Beyrouth”. What? I obviously need to review my middle eastern geography. It turns up that this Marzoban rules the area between Turkey and Egypt who isn’t under the control of the Shah. The king of France, who was fighting until then rather successfully in Greece becomes the personal guest of the Khagan after having been captured in battle.
In September, I take the city of Brendision, and the doge surrenders immediately. It has been a short war. I had wanted for a while to give a significant title to Menendo, another exceptionally talented Jimenez I had invited to my court and made Steward. He becomes Lord Mayor of Lecce (which is a city state rather than a county). I vaguely envision him as a possible replacement for Tello if the latter were to die before me, but realize too late I shouldn’t have landed him in Italy, which isn’t de jure part of Hispania. Southern Italy being Orthodox, I send my chaplain to convert the county, or at least its nobility.

At this point in time, I have eliminated most of the armies of Aragon, and began the sieges of the duke’s fortresses. Meanwhile the duke of Mallorca and Munster have called their allies (often the same), and a number of my vassals are fighting each other in Hispania.

While waiting for the sieges to end, I started the long task of having all male children properly mentored (*)

(*)FTR, technically, it means if already Castillan by someone with the highest level in a competence related to one of the best stats of the child, if not by a Castillan who is Gregarious, Diligent or both. I also ban all nobles/courtiers with the “lazy” trait from mentoring, this trait being too devastating, and if possible try to avoid mentors with too many “bad” traits. For children I think might be important or who are already brilliant, I’m more selective, looking up the detailed stats and traits of the potential mentor.

269

1309
In January I take Najera, on February Almansa, on March Murcia, on April Tamisa. Obviously, the duke of Aragon, contrarily to the doge of Agrigente the previous year, will fight to the bitter end.

On June, Tello announces his success in Kroton. That was quick, but not really surprising given his absurdly high diplomatic talent. At the end of the same month, the duke finally surrenders. I could attack Kroton right away, but I had wanted to organize a great hunt for a while, so I elect to wait until fall. Meanwhile, I must decide on the fate of the duke. He owns two duchies, which is one too many in my opinion, three counties, in particular the county of Zaragoza I’m particularly interested in because it holds five holding, which is more than many of my own, and a barony which is inconveniently situated in Malaga, within the large block of territory I had kept for myself around Granada. I eventually decide to revoke the barony, given that the dukedom of Aragon apply the gavelkind succession which will result in the division of the main titles anyway. As for the duke himself, he’s going to stay in jail. He’s already 61 and I hope to get rid of him as soon as possible. Not to the point of wanting to execute him, though, but if he were to mess up again with my succession plans, the axe is waiting.

Since I was still handing children to mentors, I had noticed a young 16 yo, Ramiro of Viana, with an excellent stewardship and good traits. A perfect mentor, and also exactly the kind of result of my mentoring program I was hoping for. I granted him the barony I just took away from the duke of Aragon in order to have him as a direct vassal. In fact he’s already more able than my current steward, but since the latter is a duke I don’t want to irritate, I hope Ramiro won’t realize that and ask for the job too soon.

In August, the duchess of Brittany surrendered to the king of Wales. As I noted, I was keeping an eye on this war, not wanting Wales, our rightful heirloom, to lose part of its territory. On the same month, I was…kidnapped! :mad: And fortunately rescued by Tello, who decidedly is perfect in all situations. After this happy ending, I sent him to Paris to have a talk with the regent and convince him we should definitely side together, if for instance, to take a random example, some sort of war erupted between Hispania and the Fatimids (I still hadn’t have given up on this idea, even though the current turn of events wasn’t favorable).

On September, to my surprise, the Queen of Burgundy won her war, gaining Galilee in the process, a substantial chunk of land (it’s the purple band of territory on the right of the event windows, including Jerusalem). A new part for our other rightful heirloom. My wife also turned out not to be the landless petty noble I thought she was, since she inherited the barony of San Pedro de Perix. This title of baron is likely to be the only one my young son Jaime will have.
I organized a great hunt as planned, and took risks to become more diligent which allowed me again to properly take care of all my demesne. I also proposed that from now on, all bishops in lands belonging to the crowns of Hispania and Castille would be chosen by their liege lord. Which pleased immensely bishops, but also the great lords of Hispania. Since they were so pleased, I also proposed that nobles would now have to send their entire levy in wars waged by Hispania (which means about 10 000 more men). Both proposals were quickly voted. For some unknown reason, I couldn’t change the crown laws in Portugal, where bishops are chosen by the Pope and crown authority is high, two bad things if you ask me.

Meanwhile, the Crusade in Greece was beginning to turn badly, all territorial gains of the first year having been lost. What made me think that things were really bad was seeing Mongol armies crossing Spain, headed for France. The war between the duke and the countess of Mallorca was still going on, although their allies seemed to have disappeared, probably having exterminated each other. The duke died, the last of the Danish Jimenez (why on earth was there Danish Jimenez in the first place???). The dukedom was inherited by the duchess of Aragon (yes, the wife of the man I had just jailed three months ago. Although for some reason their respective heirs are different, which is a good thing). The war kept going on, with some new calls for allies. A new revolt against the king of Wales started in Brittany.

Waiting for further developments, I used my claim on Kroton, and sent to Italy another third of my vassals’ men. Consenza fell quickly, at the end of October, and Crotone on December. I must say that 25 000 men attacking a single county isn’t exactly a fair fight.

270

1310-1311

I’m afraid I mixed up the years 1309 and 1310. The conquest of Kroton wasn’t that quick. I declared war in December 1309, and the castles fell during the autumn of 1310. Since not many things happened besides this conquest, I didn’t notice the year’s change on the screenshots. And since I didn’t write in perfect chronological order, but tended to regroup somewhat related events, I conflated events that happened in 1309 and 1310. For instance, I apparently was abducted in 1309, but my wife inherited in 1310.

A couple things that did happen in 1310, though.

First, the war in Mallorca finally ended at the beginning of 1310, the duchess giving up and the countess keeping her county, to my satisfaction.

Second, the king of Wales became senile, which probably meant that he wouldn’t be amongst us for long. As I was checking on his health once, I suddenly noticed he had a new heir! He somehow had managed to impregnate his wife before (or after) losing his marbles (our heir is in fact his nephew). That was a serious problem, especially since he could die at any moment. So, and this answer the “ethical” question I had been asking last time about assassinations, I planned the murder of the toddler and…someone else did the killing! A Breton noble had an issue with this birth too, apparently.

Following this event, I wondered about the safety of our own heir and his claimant sister. Since they’re both tutored by Tello II, and since I’d rather not want him to die, either, anyway, I sent my spymaster to scheme at Tello’s court. I’m not sure this actually helps knowing about about plots against them or protecting them, though.

In February 1311, the count of Kroton surrendered. I was now ruling 8 of the 16 counties of the de jure kingdom of Sicily. And had a claim on a 9th, Malta. I had the local nobility convert to Catholicism, and handed the county to…well…I wondered for a while about whether I should keep the tradition of giving counties and dukedoms to members of the Jimenez dynasty. On the other hand, I could grant the land to other very capable men, who could later on serve on my Council. Which is what I eventually did. I chose a man, Randolf Randolfez, for his high Learning, on the hope that he could replace later my current chaplain, but also that this would help convert the county to the Catholic faith (I don’t know if it actually does).

It’s now May 1311. I’m 58 yo, the king of Wales 55, the queen of Bourgogne 61. In four years, I will be able to use my de jure claim on Malta without breaking a truce, and acquire the kingdom of Sicily. I wonder if I will live to see these kingdoms join the Hispanian empire. I’m also afraid that Tello could die before me, since I don’t have any really good replacement, and since it can take a while before the inheritance of all four crowns (Hispania, Castille, Portugal, Aragon) are lined up. The Sultan of Egypt is also 61 and the decadence of his family is now high. But I would rather wait until the king of France is able to back me, and at the moment he still is in a Mongol cage. I also found another interesting target : Tripolitana. The holder is a child and has no allies. I probably could attempt a holy war without much risk.
To end up two trivia I discovered while looking up the ledger :

-The Sunni faith has been completely eradicated.

-A 9 yo Hispanian count is the second richest person only beaten by the Pope. How he could end up with 11 200 gold is a complete mystery to me. His income is pretty normal and there aren’t any particularly important people amongst his ancestors, just ordinary lowly nobles.

271

Can you banish him? I think you only get tyranny proportional to the number of titles you’re grabbing so you could get all that gold and only get -10 opinion for swiping a measly county.

272

This didn’t occur to me. In fact, until recently, I didn’t even know you would get the gold of banished characters. I believe I learned it during my first rule in the current game, in fact. There really are a lot of things to know about this game.

But to banish him, I would need to arrest him first, and arresting a vassal without a cause is a -40 penalty for all subjects (just checked). Might be worth remembering for my successor, if he ever does something deserving an arrest.

In fact I should remember this myself. I typically either free right away or detain forever prisoners. I never check their wealth to see if banishment could be an interesting option. And despite this boy being by far the richest, there are several mayors who own thousands in gold (Upon checking, the two next richest people are two of my mayors, in fact, with more than 5 000 gold each).

273

Can you excommunicate him? That might carry a small tyranny penalty itself, but certainly not -40.

274

As I wrote, I was expecting that the kingdoms of Wales and Burgundy would join
Hispania upon the death of their ruler, since their heirs were vassals.

However, the king of Wales died…and the kingdom stayed independent. My half-brother properly inherited it, but being my vassal wasn’t enough for Wales to become a subject kingdom to Hispania. I looked, and discovered that the title the vassal inherit must be equal to or lower than the title he already holds for him to stay a vassal. In this case he should have already been a vassal king of mine for Wales to become part of Hispania. I tested by loading the most recent save, granting him a king title, and going at high speed to wait for a new death of the king of Wales. And it worked.

Now, I feel a bit cheated after waiting for years for this kingdom (actually, I had just joined a Welsh war to “protect the heirloom”), so should I cheat on the basis that i didn’t know the rules, reload a previous game before the death of the king of Wales and take the proper measures to prepare for his death, or is this still cheating and should I consider this a lesson and let Wales go?

275

I hadn’t thought of that, either. You’re a creative bunch.

276

1311

On May, I declare a holy war (why should I be the only Prince not fighting the infidels?) on the Quadirid emir Zakariyah II, ruling Tripolitana. Still a child, a three counties emirate, no allies and already at war with Pisa over Malta . There’s a risk that the Fatimids might join the war, but I suspect it is minimal. Just in case it would happen, I nevertheless raise all levies. That means way more than necessary since those north African territories aren’t very accommodating for large armies.

I crush the Quaridid army besieging Malta and lay siege in all three provinces with about 12 000 men in each. At which point, the Fatimid Caliph Usama I joins the war. Well…I had been aching to fight the Fatimids for years, right? I think I should be able to handle them. I recruit the 5 000 men of the Catalan band whose leader is our vassal (I’m still unsure about how this happened) which means they’re fighting for a very low price (9 gold to recruit them and 4 gold/month).

All my forces that aren’t busy besieging Tripolitana are debarked in the Rif, where a large Fatimid army is concentrating. What will be the largest battle of the war begins in September. Leading myself the center, I become a skilled heavy infantry leader. This is a significant victory, the fatimids losing 20 000 men. Tired by the promiscuity of military camps, I begin to isolate myself while I was known as being very gregarious.

My half sister Aragonta comes of age, as a talented grey eminence with good traits. I think I will keep her at court as a mentor. Or at least until the issue of Wales is definitely settled, since she has a claim on this kingdom. When have spare time (and I won’t have much in the coming years), I search for mentors for the noble girls of the empire, as i had done for the boys previously. I spend money sparingly (since I might need it to fund the war) on military improvements in Burgos and economic improvements in the vassal barony I had created in Palermo.

277

1312
A second large battle takes place in January in Algeciras, where the Fatimids have landed a large army. Again, I outnumber them and it’s a decisive victory. I will then begin to chase and destroy the remains of the two Fatimid armies on both sides of the straits of Gibraltar.

On February, my spymaster catch the duke Manrique of Seville plotting. Contrarily to the dukes of Barcelona and Aragon who are still rotting in my jail, the duke of Seville hasn’t been a problem. Of course, he’s part of factions on a regular basis, but everybody does that, including my chosen heir Tello of Navarra. However, he is the most powerful of my vassals, holding a large chunk of land in Southern Spain, and i would like to address preemptively this issue. I order him to be arrested, and of course he revolts. As soon as I can, I leave the Fatimids alone to attack in priority the armies he’s forming around Seville, conveniently close to Gibraltar where my armies and fleets are operating.

On April, I take the first of the Tripolitan castles, Leptis Magna. You might notice a Pisean army on this picture, crossing Tripoli. Pisean, and now their Hungarian allies, were fighting in Tunisia. But for some reason, they would land all their armies in eastern Tripolitana and then would follow the coast west and then north :confused: . Since my armies’ ability to live off the land was already stretched out, these repetitive landings would cost me more men than the sieges themselves.

At about the same time, I had eliminated most of the enemy armies (Fatimid and Sevillan alike) from southern Spain and and the Fes/Tangiers area. From then on, while small forces were conducting sieges, I would use 10-15 thousand strong armies loaded on ships to look around the African coast and attack Fatimid formations, and regrouping when necessary to eliminate them. I wouldn’t face any serious challenge (snapshot of the war at this point) . Tripoli falls in July, Syrte and Misratah in August, Sabratah in December

Meanwhile, for the third time in three wars (this can’t be a coincidence), one of my major vassals revokes a county. This time, it’s the duke of Sicily and his target the Lord Mayor of Messina. The count of Cornouaille’s revolt against the king of Wales ends inconclusively. The Kaiser loses his holy war against the Shah and his vassal the duke of Provence starts an independence war (which matters a bit because one of my vassals has a weak claim on Provence. But I obviously can’t start a third war).

A daughter, Ava, is born to my wife in October. That’s my third child with my second spouse.
On December 12, the emir surrenders, leaving me in control of Tripolitana after one year and a half of war.

(Note : Just discovered I should write “in October”, not “on October”. Not my only mistake, obviously, but I must have made this one a hundred times or so in my reports.)

278

1313
Following my conquest of Tripolitania, I end up with a lot of holdings. At first, I envision to make it a vassal republic Then, I find preferable to create a duchy that I would hold directly. But finally, considering that I have already too many duchies, and that I’m unwilling to give up any of my current holdings to take over Tripoli (and I already directly rule as many counties I can), I will let Tripolitan counties independent and directly vassals of the crown.

Mosques will be converted into bishoprics handed to random holy men, cities and baronies in Leptis Magna and Syrte will be given to members of the Jimenez family who aren’t at risk of inheriting anything else, while particularly talented nobles will be granted these counties and the baronies and cities of Tripoli (because I intended originally to stay count of Tripoli, and wanted to have the best nobles as direct vassals for instance to use them as advisers, mentors or generals). Tello II will finally be made count of Tripoli.

I still had the duke of Seville to deal with, though. He wouldn’t give up until he lost every single one of his holdings, even the small barony he owned in Northern Spain. Coming back with all my armies from the war against the Fatimids, I abandoned any pretense of subtlety, however. Having noted that assaults weren’t that deadly when conducted with a truly powerful army I took by force all his holdings, and on May 5, the duke of Seville surrendered and joined the dukes of Barcelona and Aragon in my jails. I freed a kinslayer baron I had jailed some time before, and my vassals were pleased by my magnanimity.

Europe and the Hispanian Empire in 1313 (don’t forget the small part of Ireland we rule).

In February, the Pope called back the Crusade for Greece which had been a failure. In March, the queen of Bourgogne declared a de jure war against the Kaiser over Wurzburg. This seemed overly ambitious to me and I didn’t offer to join the conflict. I organized a summer fair during the following summer.

I also had to make a decision about this. I’m mostly posting this picture for Pleonast in case it would remind him of something. My father betrothed my half-sister to a seemingly random (though a Jimenez) courtier in Italy. She had become an adult a little while ago, but I was too busy to take care of that. I assumed there must have been a reason for this betrothal (she was probably about 5 when it took place) but after having looked up everything I could think of, I couldn’t figure it out, so I broke the betrothal. So, Pleonast, did you have a goal in mind, or did I waste 45 minutes searching for a non-existent explanation? :wink:

The revolt of the duke of Provence against the Holy Roman Emperor hadn’t been crushed yet. In fact he was now fighting also the duke of Toulouse, who had a claim on Provence. I had thought it was a hopeless case, but finally decided I could give it a try. I wasn’t risking much anyway. So in September, I declared war on Provence too, on the basis of the claim of my vassal the count of Trapani. I began to gather a large army without hurry, convinced that I would come too late or that I would face too strong an opposition by the Kaiser and/or the duke of Toulouse.

In November, Pope Lucius II died, probably devastated by the failure of his crusade and Clement III succeeded him. Which was a good thing, since a lot of my bishops had come to be very appreciative of Lucius II.

279

1314

In February, I landed my demesne’s army in Provence where the duke of Provence owned a barony (his main holding not being actually Provence, but Forcalquier, in the Alps). I noted that the Kaiser was nowhere to be found, and Folcalquier besieged by a relatively small army from Toulouse (about 10 000 men). Clearly, I could take the duchy, and I belatedly but hastily called the levies. I intended to attack with a large army, despite the high attrition rate in the Alps, in order to assault the holdings rather than besiege them for a long time before possibly facing some huge German army.

In July, a 35 000 strong Hispanian army had sailed to Provence, moved to the Alps and was battling the army of Toulouse. The victory was easy, and immediately followed by assaults on Embrun, Forclaquier and Apt, already severely weakened by the duke of Toulouse’s siege. By August 15, all three had fell, my army had moved back to Provence to assault the last holding of the duke , which I had been besieging for several months…and the count of Trapani, my claimant, died :smack: The war had ended a few days away from victory. I unfortunately don’t have any picture of my face at this instant to uplaod.

I could have a second shot at it, however. The new count of Trapani had inherited his father’s claim. However, I had to start it all over again. This time, I acted as quickly as possible, knowing that now the duke of Provence’s holdings, weakened by my assaults, wouldn’t resist for long. By November, I had dissolved my armies, called them back again, shipped a first army of 13 000 men, with more following…but the duke of Provence surrendered to the count of Toulouse.
In February, the prince archbishop of Dauphine started a civil war against the queen of Bourgogne. Since its goal was only lowering crown authority, I again let the queen deal with the issue. The Fatimid caliph Usama I launched a holy war for the Sinai against the Kaiser. A peasant revolt broke out in unruly Tripolitania, and was dispersed by forces diverted from the attack on Provence.

The duke of Sicily had prevailed against both the lord mayor of Messina who had refused his revocation and the lord mayor of Girgenti who had tried to have him replaced by a claimant and whom he revoked too. I thought I should keep an eye on this rising power within my realm.
In September, the king of France started a claim war on Denmark. This annoyed me greatly since his victory seemed more than likely, and he was already powerful enough ruling over France and England without adding Denmark to the mix. Worse, in December he called me to arms in his war. That’s not what I had in mind when I created an alliance with him. I didn’t see the point in refusing, especially since I might need this ally in the future in unforeseeable circumstances, so I agreed to support his cause, although I obviously don’t intend to do anything to actually help.

I began to mentor Domingo, the son of Tello II. He already was a coward, don’t blame me…

280

That’s all for the moment, until I have your opinions about my cheating issue (the king of Wales died in 1315).