Crusader Kings II - House Jimena

[sabotai]

Ok, so I got a bit bored with the German game and want something with a bit more action. Can't get bored with Reconquista!

I'll be taking the role of King Sancho I of Aragon.

I only start off with 1 province, Alto Aragon.

County Tax: 7.8 / 25.8
Total Levy: 474 / 692
Supply: 17k
Culture: Castillan
Religion: Catholic
Military Advances: 3
Economic Advances: 5
Culture Advances: 5

County Capital: Jaca
Improvements: Shallow Castle Moat, Low Stone Wall, Castle Donjon, Militia Training Ground, Guard Quarters, Small Stable
Base Tax: 4.4
Levy: 445
Fort Level 4.5
Garrison Size: 424

Bishopric of Barbastro
Base Tax: 8.00
Levy: 130
Garrison: 130
Fort Level 0

City of Huesca
Improvements: Town Palisade
Base Tax: 13.42
Levy: 117
Garrison: 115
Fort Level: 0.4

[sabotai]

Sept. 19, 1066
Princess Urraca and Knud Svendsen of Denmark have gotten married (Matrilineal Marriage). The gold offering was pretty low (only 5.31), so I went with the +50 Prestige.

Nov. 25, 1066
I don't have any options for Court Chaplain, so I Invite Holy Man to Court (-5.00 Piety). I get someone named Velo de Barbastro with a Learning rating of 10.

Dec 13, 1066
I get pulled into a war with the HRE for Mecklenburg. Declining will cost me Prestige so I Accept, not that I have to do anything.

Feb. 12, 1067
I declare war on Zaragoza (Press Duchal Claim) and invade. They have 472 troops against my 557.

March 21, 1067
We win our battle in Zaragoza and begin a siege.

April 8, 1067
The King of Galicia requests our help in a war. I guess...

Nov 5, 1067
Zaragoza is ours.

The County of Zaragoza (right after taking it over, the numbers are going to be bad.)
County Tax: 5.7 / 24.5
Levy: 6 / 250
Supply: 13k
Culture: Andalusian
Religion: Sunni
Military Advances: 5
Economy Advances: 17
Culture Advances: 16

County Capital: Zaragoza
Improvements: Shallow Castle Moat, Wooden Palisade, Small Stable
Base Tax: 0
Levy Size: 0
Garrison: 270
Fort Level: 4.0

City of Alagon
Improvements: City Moat, Town Palisade
Base Tax: 14.64
Levy: 117
Garrison: 115
Fort Level: 0.8

Sheikhdom of Caspe
Improvements: Church Moat, Church Palisade
Base Tax: 9.84
Levy: 133
Garrison: 130
Fort Level 1.0

[sabotai]

April 1, 1068
A son was born to Prince Knud of Denmark and Princess Urraca of Aragon. His name is Gil.

May 19, 1068
Queen Isabel of Aragon is pregnant.

Dec. 20, 1068
Twins! A boy named Sancho and a girl named Ermesinda. Now Sancho is 1st heir and Ermesinda is 2nd in line.

Jan 1, 1069
A revolt in Zaragoza. We raise levies and attack.

Feb 18, 1069
We clear out the rebels.

Sept. 8, 1069
Most of Spain is at war right now. Time to grab another. I press my Ducal claim on Albarracin.

Nov 2, 1069
My army of 605 easily defeats their army of 356 and begin a siege.

On the same day, I find out my wife is pregnant again!

Dec 12, 1069
I ask The King of Navarra to help me out. The armies of Albarracin are starting to attack my counties behind me. Hopefully Navarra sends some armies to take care of them.

Jan 5, 1070
The mayor of Alagon is in need of some money. I send 15 gold his way.

June 3, 1070
I have another daughter. Her name is Margarita.

Jan 2, 1071
Albarracin is ours.

County of Albarracin
Base Tax: 0.0 / 29.5
Levy: 4 / 606
Supply: 9k
Culture: Andalusian
Religion: Sunni
Military Advances: 5
Economic Advances: 16
Culture Advances: 15

County Capital of Albarracin
Improvements: Shallow Castle Moat, Wooden Palisade, Small Stable
Base Tax: 5.04
Levy: 356
Garrison: 270
Fort Level 4.0

City of Teruel
Improvements: City Moat, Town Palisade
Base Tax: 14.64
Levy: 117
Garrison: 115
Fort Level: 0.8

Sheikhdom of Hijar
Improvements: Church Moat, Church Palisade
Base Tax: 9.84
Levy: 133
Garrison: 130
Fort Level: 1.0

In other news, Barcelona has taken control of their whole county. There's one last 1 province muslim territory left, Calatayud, is being attacked by Castille so they may get it.

Oct. 3, 1071
One last war to deal with. Valencia declared a holy war against Castille.

March 22, 1072
King Sancho has gained the Brave trait.

May 17, 1072
My Chaplain came to me about Waldensian.....arrest him!

May 13, 1073
While me and Barcelona have done well to push the muslims back some, Castille, Leon and Galicia have done poorly. Badajoz have had their way with Leon and Galicia and Castille is being carved up.

June 3, 1073
Another war. Once again, members of (not the whole nation) Badajoz are attacking Leon. Hopefully I can help out this time.

August 17, 1073
I begin building a Castle Village (+1.5 Gold)

There's about 900 troops in Leon. I only have 400. Navarra is sending about 800 as well. Castille has just joined as well.

Nov. 8, 1073
Now Badajoz have attacked Castille and I'm helping out again.

Dec. 14, 1073
Another daughter! Her name is Isabelle.

March 22, 1074
Well, my help has been defeated.

Probably should have used my money to hire a mercenary band rather than build a village.

August 5, 1074
My wife is pregnant!

March 6, 1075
A son! His name is Ramiro.

Sept. 17, 1075
Leon and Galicia are gone. They are now part of Sevilla. I'm sending troops in to help Castille. In other news, Barcelona has taken part of Grenada.

Feb. 1, 1076
Our army was defeated and King Sancho has died.

King Sancho II has taken the throne at the age of 7.

Sept. 19, 1077
Well, Leon exists now, but it's called the Sultanate of Leon (was Badajoz).

Dec. 19, 1077
I upgrade Jaca's Guard Quarters to Small Barracks. +40 Heavy Infantry, +15 Pikemen.

Feb. 7, 1078
Albarracin has revolted.

April 17, 1078
We win our battle in Albarracin and begin a siege. This actually helps me. When I take it back, I'll be able to revoke the county title.

June 22, 1079
And it's over. We take Albarracin back. Abu al Malik banu Razin is now in prison and his title has been revoked. King Sancho II now has direct control over all 3 counties.

In other news, Barcelona is losing badly to Africa.

July 3, 1079
All of Muslim Spain is now attacking Castille, Navarra and me. I have 158 gold, so I will hire a merc band to help out.

We hire the Catalan Band. Unfortunately, the resent wars took a toll on my levies, so I have the 1500 from the Catalan Band my 300.

Nov 24, 1079
Our 1761 faced 1746 from Valencia. We win, with 1056 left.

Jan. 31, 1080
We finish off the rest of Valencia's army. I only have 989 left so back to Aragon they go to recover.

April 16, 1084
After years of war, Africa has taken Barcelona and Leon has taken a few counties from Castille.

This might not last much longer....

[sabotai]

Dec 20, 1084
King Sancho II comes of age.

I become betrothed to Princess Isabeau of France. She is 12 right now, but when she becomes 16, and the marriage happens, I'll become allies with the King of France. That should help keep the muslims back for a bit. I just have to make it to 1088.

Jan 16, 1086
The war has turned in our favor. I saved up some gold and hired a second band after the Catalan Band was wiped out. The Saxon Band plus my levies make a formidable army now that Valencia has also been battered.

June 3, 1086
My sister, Margarita, marries King Rorgon I of France. This results in an alliance. I wasn't sure if that betrothal was going to end up in an alliance. Thankfully it did. I can't call for his help right now. I'm guessing it's because this is Castille's war, not mine.

July 11, 1086
Well that didn't take long. The King of France wants my help. It's a war against Africa and Burgundy. What choice do I have? I accept.

Burgundy is trying to put Prince Hughes on the thrown. They have a lot of help...I'm France's only help.

August 14, 1088
Well, looks like the King of France is going away. There's nothing I can do to help him.

The county of Castellon in Valencia has taken this chance to declare independence. I took this chance to declare war (after I sent my 100 or so levies home while keeping the 1500 mercs in the field.)

August 27, 1088
Genoa has succeeded in its Crusade against Arborea.

November 22, 1088
Valencia's war vs. Castille finally comes to an end. We won.

June 28, 1089
Castellon surrenders.....to Valencia. It was worth a shot. I send The Saxon Band home. My treasury is running low.

October 4, 1089
I marry Isabeau Capet. I gain 21.64 gold.

March 16, 1091
I marry by heir and brother off to a Princess from the Byzantine Empire. I now have them as allies. I gain 22.27 Gold.

June 27, 1091
King Rorgon lost the war. France is now ruled by King Hughes II. Also, we are not allies.

June 30, 1091
I declare war on Africa. I raise levies, call allies and hire The Saxon Band. Time to grab Barcelona.

January 14, 1092
My wife is pregnant.

August 15, 1092
I have a daughter named Isabel.

Dec 26, 1094
My wife is pregnant.

July 27, 1095
I have a son, Sancho.

As far as the war, it's been a stalemate so far vs. Africa. They would normally roll over me, but they are occupied with 2 other wars right now.

Nov 17, 1095
My brother keeps bitching about not having a title, so I grant him the Count of Alberaccin.

August 29, 1097
Africa is defeated. They got themselves into too many conflicts and lost the various wars of attrition they found themselves in. I won Barcelona. I've got one more bit of business to take care of. The province of Rosello currently owned by Mallorca. I have that taken, I just need to wait until they decide to give up.

August 23, 1098
Mallorca finally accepts peace. Guess they got tired of throwing 300 soldiers to their death every few months.

In other news, I'm not sure what happened, but Navarra has taken over what little territory Castille had left, and is gaining in strength now as well.

Once I clean up everything, I'll post a map.

[sabotai]

The Iberian Peninsula - 1098

You'll also see that some of France has joined the Holy Roman Empire. Not sure what happened there...And again, that Leon is not "our" Leon.

Now that I've got two Duchies (Aragon and Barcelona, and I'll be moving my capital to Barcelona when it feels right), maybe I can go toe to toe with some of the muslim nations now. But I hope things stay quiet for a bit. I want to build up Barcelona some.

[Izulde]

Nice work!

[sabotai]

March 9, 1099
Africa declares war on me to try to get back Barcelona.

July 17, 1099
I suppose Africa just wants to use their allies for this. I haven't seen any African troops, just some from Mauretania, and I've been able to deal with them so far.

Jan. 2, 1100
I may have my answer as to why there aren't many troops making their way to Barcelona. I just saw a huge army (5000+) from Byzantine in the south. Very glad I made that marriage.

May 31, 1100
King Gomez I of Navarra has pressed a claim on Alto Aragon. Really? Is this really the time for this? No war yet, but it looks like Navarra is more enemy than friend. Fine. Might as well unify Christian Spain even if we are constantly at war with the Muslims. I'll be waiting to make my own move on them....

Feb 21, 1101
Hey, The King of France is our ally again. King Hughes died and Rorgon takes the thrown again. Crazy French politics.

Dec 18, 1103
My wife is pregnant.

March 2, 1104
The war is over. We...well mostly Byzantine, defeated Africa and they surrendered their claim on Barcelona.

The "recently conquered (different culture)" tag on Barcelona ends in 1107. I may move my capital then.

June 10, 1104
Seville is attacking Navarra and I come to their aid.

July 19, 1104
My son is born. His name is Felipe.

February 3, 1107
I gain a claim on the Duchy of Navarra. It cost me a good amount of gold and prestige.

January 15, 1108
We win against Seville. Navarra keeps on to their few Castille counties.

I press my claim on Navarra and declare war. France answers the call, but it seems my alliance with Byzantine is over. Will have to look to re-up on that.

March 3, 1108
We win a big battle in the County of Navarra. It's only a matter of time now.

September 9, 1108
I marry my 16 year old daughter to a member of the son of the Duke of Brittany, so now I have France and Brittany as allies.

January 23, 1109
My wife dies. I immediately arrange a marriage with Princess Adelaide of the HRE. Another alliance. Now that I have France, Brittany and the HRE behind me, I may be able to gain significant land in Spain.

April 24, 1109
Navarra offers their surrender after I take the county of Navarra. The Kingdom of Navarra is down to just two counties.

May 6, 1109
The County of Barcelona officially becomes the capital of the Kingdom of Aragon.

[sabotai]

March 22, 1112
Finally a few years of peace. The Sultanate Africa has been broken up in North Africa, and is looking like it'll be broken up more.

Overview of my Kingdom
Gold: 139 (+6.88 per month)
Realm Size: 40
Demesne: 7/8

Military
From Demesne: 0 / 1607 / 1870
From Vassals: 0 / 2514 / 3139

So I can raise an army of around 4000 when I need it, plus whatever mercs and I can afford.

Fleets
From Demesne: 13, From Vassals: 27

The Lords have just approved Medium Crown Authority.

My son, Prince Sancho of Aragon, has just turned 16 and is betrothed to Princess Emelenine of England (A daughter of William The Conqueror).

May 14, 1112
I fabricate a claim on the County of Soria, currently held by Navarra. It costs me 84.71 Gold and 150 Prestige. I have a truce with them that will last until 1119. Hopefully I stick around that long.

Somehow, The HRE has taken half of Scandinavia. Interesting.

September 7, 1112
Valencia is at war with a few other nations. Time to strike and take the County of Valencia from them.

Brittany and the HRE have joined in the fun. This should be relatively easy.

July 26, 1114
And we win after a few years of whack-a-mole while the HRE and Brittany took a few counties for us. It's good to have powerful allies. If I can continually re-up on my alliances through marriage, taking the rest of Spain will be easy. As long as the Muslim nations don't get the bright idea to team up on me.

October 21, 1115
I declare a Holy War for Mallorca. I get a few of my allies to join, Seville has joined Mallorca.

November 27, 1117
With a massive force from the HRE, it was pretty easy. The Balearic Islands are now mine.

[sabotai]

The Iberian Peninsula - 1117

We've been expanding nicely. Navarrahad to try to press a claim. I would have been happy trying to help each other take the peninsula and then try to join the kingdoms together with marriage. But they had to try to press a claim....

You can still see the massive stack HRE sent me. While I have this alliance going, I should be attacking a lot. Who knows how much longer I'll have these alliances. HRE, England, France....it looked bleak early, and now it's looking good.

[sabotai]

January 1, 1118
France pulls me into their war. Toulouse is trying to gain independence. It has been going on for awhile now.

January 23, 1118
And the war ends in White Peace.

In other news, I have a new daughter. Her name is Adelaida.

February 19, 1118
I hand the Duchy of Navarra over to my son and heir, Prince Sancho. I can't directly hold too many Duchies or it starts hurting my relations with my vassals. But for as long as I can, I'll be giving Duchies only to my heir and family members to keep them in the House of Jimena.

September 30, 1119
A son is born. His name is Beltran.

October 20, 1119
Looks like Navarra is just about done. Seville attacked them again to gain the rest of Castille. This time, they have not asked for my help.

February 5, 1121
Murcia separated from Mauretania. I declare war to try to grab it.

October 1, 1121
I fabricate a claim on the Duchy of Castille. I press it, costing me 194 Gold and 300 Prestige. Thanks to all of the wins I have gotten over the last two decades, the Prestige cost is nearly negligible. The Gold cost leaves me with about 80 Gold left. My levies have grown to the size where I don't need mercs for small wars, so I'm still in the black while the war is going on. Murcia doesn't seem to have any allies.

July 3, 1122
The war is over, Murcia is mine. I gave both counties (Murcia and Almansa) to my son, Prince Felipe. He now has 4 counties. I'll usurp the Duchy and give it to him as soon as I can. I have 3 I can usurp, but you can't usurp while the person who holds it is at war, and everyone seems to constantly be at war in the Iberian Peninsula.

September 3, 1123
Navarra turned the tide of their war with Seville and won. Too bad for them, I press my claim on Castille and declare war. It's time for one, unified and strong Christian nation to repel the Muslims from the Iberian Peninsula.

May 31, 1124
Navarra surrenders. I now have the Duchy of Castille and Navarra, for the time being, is gone.

I hand over the Duchy of Castille to my son and heir, Prince Sancho. That gets me under my Demesne limit of 8 again.

I can also create the Kingdom of Castille. I check and see it has the same succession law as the Kingdom of Aragon. Agnatic-Cognatic Primogeniture. I think this means it'll always go to the same heir as Aragon. I hope it does anyway. I create it. It costs 200 Gold (I have 451 right now), 200 Piety (I have 1394) and will give me 400 Prestige (1822 right now).

After, I have 251 Gold, 2222 Prestige and 1194 Piety.

October 15, 1124
I usurp the Emirate of Murcia (now the Duchy of Murcia). This cost 100 Gold and gives 50 Prestige. I give it to my son, Prince Felipe.

April 1, 1125
I give the County of Valencia to my 5 year old son, Prince Beltran.

July 29, 1125
France has declared a Holy War form Galicia. I spend the 25 Prestige and decline. I don't want the French to hold any Spanish lands.

October 5, 1125
I finally convert the County of Albarracin to the Catholic faith. Now I try to convert Castellon (working my way down the coast).

March 5, 1126
I usurp the Emirates of Valencia and Mallorca. Prince Felipe is given Mallorca and Prince Beltran is given Valencia.

June 7, 1126
I really need a city in Barcelona. It has 3 Baronies and 1 Bishopric, but no City. It's going to cost 800 Gold so I'm on a mission to hit 1000. I'm at 145 Gold and get +8.3 per month.

September 3, 1126
I press my son's Ducal claim on the county of Denia. It sticks out like a sore thumb as my territory surrounds this coastal province.

November 16, 1126
Pope Honorius II gives me 200 Gold to help my righteous struggle against the heathens.

September 18, 1127
I easily win the war and my son's Duchy is now complete.

[sabotai]

The Iberian Peninsula - 1127

[sabotai]

January 25, 1128
My wife, Princess Adelaida of the Holy Roman Empire, dies at 54.

February 7, 1128
I marry Princess Wirpirk of the Holy Roman Empire. She's 37 years old, and is Adelaida's sister. I had to make sure I kept my alliance with the HRE.

+48.74 Gold.

February 20, 1128
The King of France (who is my nephew through marriage) has been Excommunicated and the HRE declared war. It costs me nothing to stay out of it, so I stay out of it.

March 16, 1128
And the King of France is dead. King Guy I of France takes the throne at age 8.

May 8, 1128
France won their war and now control Galicia.

Seville must be weak now. I declare war to try to grab the County of Burgos.

August 20, 1130
My new wife is pregnant!

March 21, 1131
My wife gives birth to a girl. Her name is Adosinda.

July 27, 1132
My wife is pregnant again.

In news of the war, it went well at first. We won a few battles but he took heavy casualties. Then they sent a big stack at me and defeated my armies. Luckily, I had been saving for that city in Barcelona. I hired a few merc bands and turned them back.

The downside is my treasury is down to 355. It started out at around 700. One expensive county....

November 17, 1132
The war is over and we have won, but my treasury is down to 317. High price to pay for the County of Burgos.

February 28, 1133
My son, Boson, is born.

June 18, 1133
France is expanding south as they take more from Seville. My son, Prince Sancho is attacking Leon on his own. That's my boy!

February 8, 1134
My daughter comes of age and I betroth her to King Guy I of France (currently 13).

June 13, 1134
Since my son is attacking Leon (Holy War for Leon), I figure I might as well attack. I declare a Holy War on Leon for Badajoz. And this time, I call for allies.

October 7, 1134
Here's the downside of a character living a long time. He outlives his children. Prince Sancho dies at the age of 39. His 12 year old son takes all of his holdings.

June 18, 1135
King Sancho the Great has died at the age of 66. Taking the throne is his grandson, currently 13 years old. Sancho III is now King Sancho III, king of Castille and king of Aragon.

The Duchy of Navarra is given to King Sancho III's brother, Blasco. The Duchy of Castille is given to King Sancho III's uncle, 2 year old Prince Boson.

Prince Felipe is not happy one bit.

I award him an honorary title and send him 20 Gold. That makes his opinion of King Sancho III -36.

February 26, 1136
Prince Beltran was plotting against me so I tried to imprison him. Didn't work and Valencia is now in revolt.

Time to hire some mercs....

Toleda has now joined the war for Leon.

May 16, 1136
Leon gives up and surrenders to us. We take the Duchy of Leon, and I give it to my brother Blasco.

July 26, 1136
My uncle, Felipe, declares WAR!.....the downside of all titles being passed to one character.....all of Aragon south of Barcelona is rebelling. However, Valencia is already beaten. They just need to surrender. I doubt Mallorca and Murcia will be able to muster up many troops to fight me. Those counties are still suffering from recently being conquered.

September 9, 1136
The county of Zaragoza rebels. Aragonian Succession Crisis indeed.

December 27, 1136
Prince Beltran surrenders and Valencia comes back under the fold. Beltran is imprisoned.

I execute my dear uncle (he had been excommunicated so no one cared).

Man, my dynasty likes to have daughters. Trying to find a member of the House of Jimena to give the Duchy of Valencia to and there's no one.

I give it to my younger than me uncle, 3 year old Duke Boson.

June 13, 1137
The King of France has sided with Prince Felipe!

I need to end this fast....

January 20, 1138
Felipe is being stubborn in not surrendering even though I have a 96% war score. On the plus side, France and Brittany's agreement to come to Felipe's side seemed to be all talk. I've only had 1 battle against French troops, and that was a token force of 1k vs. my 3k.

May 19, 1138
Felipe finally gives up. The Aragonian Succession Crisis is over.

I can't execute him. Well, I could, but people will hate........to hell with it. I execute him. Not until after I strip him of the Duchy of Murcia.

The Duchy of Mallorca passes to his daughter, Isabel.

I can see King Sancho III's reign will be one where I just try to hold the kingdoms together.

[sabotai]

May 12, 1139
My wife gives birth to a son. His name is Sancho.

September 15, 1139
Mauretania declares war on me to try to take Murcia. I raise my levies.

May 7, 1140
They overwhelm me. They caught me off guard. I split my armies to take two counties, but they sent an 8k stack at me. I could have matched them 8k vs 8k. but.....

I hire a few bands of mercs. I'll stay clear of their main stack until my levies replenish. My levies plus the mercs will be enough to take care of them. It's just going to take time to get organized. Too much success made me careless. I'm also without allies....

July 28, 1140
I am able to raise around 2k in levies and I have 3k in mercs. I'll have to wait until that 2k becomes 8k before I can strike.

July 31, 1140
Toledo declares war on me. They want Leon.

This has gotten even more interesting very quickly....

May 23, 1142
After nearly two years, I finally have enough troops to defeat Toledo in battle. They took a few counties, but I beat them in the field. I hire one more band of mercs and have them clean up. That puts my balance sheet in the red, but I'm around 500 Gold now and can take the -2 gold per month hit for awhile.

My 10k stack now turns toward Mauretania. They have a 12k stack though. After I wait for my reinforcements, I'll have 14k.

My wife also gives birth to another son. Blasco.

December 7, 1144
It's finally over with Maurentania. I defeated their armies in battle, had my clean up mercs take back my counties while my stack quickly took their's.

In the deal, I get 528.0 Gold, as well as 200 Prestige.

March 2, 1145
Toledo gives up. I get 441.6 Gold and 200 Prestige.




One of the reason I'm not updating this much more often is because the last dynasty I had, I updated constantly. I think that's one of the reasons I got bored with it. Stopping it every 10 seconds to update the dynasty. So with this one, I decided to just play the game and update when I felt it was time.

The updates I provided don't really give a sense of how close the wars with Mauretania and Toledo were. I got lucky. Had they been more aggressive, or brought in some allies like Seville and Africa, I would have been dead.

While I don't have allies, it seems Mauretania and Toledo don't as well.

With these wins, I have enough to build that city in Barcelona.

And I need to work on getting some alliances again.

[sabotai]

July 20, 1148
The Duke of Navarra (my brother, Duke Blasco) attacked Leon and took the Duchy of Badajoz from them. Leon had been split apart several times and was easy pickings for them.

April 29, 1149
I knew this was coming. My brother Duke Blasco I has broken away from me and is trying to take the Duchy of Castille from me.

October 16, 1151
It wasn't much of a fight. Even though he had 3 Duchies, 1 was still recently conquered, and most of the economic and military power is in the east, the parts of the kingdoms I still personally hold. They didn't stand a chance without allies.

My brother is now in prison.

I then execute him.

I'm getting a bad reputation. I figure I already have the Kinslayer trait, might as well do it up. Traitors will not be tolerated (by Sancho III). That just kinda made a few other vassals mad.

I also create the Kingdom of Leon. Sancho III now has 3 kingdoms.

November 1, 1151
My uncle, Duke Boson of Valencia, declares war. He wants the Kingdom of Aragon.

November 4, 1151
My lords approve High Crown Authority.

December 2, 1151
The counties of Rosella and Najera declare war.

January 6, 1152
The Duchy of Mallorca and the County of Urgall join Duke Boson.

October 10, 1152
France joins Duke Boson....

I don't think I'm going to be able to survive this one....I guess I got carried away after the Aragonian Succession Crisis and that all carried over to a lot of family members not taking kindly to me.

February 16, 1152
Prince Boson offers a white peace and I accept. Chalk this one up to bad AI. France hadn't had a chance to get into it and Boson lost a few counties and wanted out. They could have waited me out, and easily beat me. Lack of foresight on the AI's part. I certainly wasn't going to give him a chance. Boson keeps his lands and loses some Prestige, but remains my vassal.

I know he's probably going to revolt again. But I have a truce for 10 years. Don't know if the AI will break that.

June 27, 1153
France f****** took Rosella out from under me. Bastards......it's on now.

February 14, 1154
A son is born. Estabon is his name.

[Grover]

Executing your brother? Awesome.

[Simbo Klice]

Long live Sancho III! I love these Crusader Kings dynasties, as a former big-time Civ IV player I am definitely looking into this game when I get a comp that can run it.

[sabotai]

Executing my uncle and gaining the kinslayer trait is what caused this whole domino effect. Felipe probably would revolted anyway, though. This is the downside of . The brothers and uncles of King Sancho III were pissed when he took the throne.



January 9, 1156
My son Prince Sancho is of age, and I give him the Duchies of Navarra and Leon.

February 18, 1156
My 2 year old son, Estabon, has died.

August 5, 1156
Toledo is at war with Portugal (a Muslim version of Portugal). Opportunity trikes, and I attack to gain the count of Valladolid, part of Castille.

May 23, 1158
Prince Blasco comes of age. He gets the Duchy of Badajoz and the Duchy of Castille.

February 13, 1160
They didn't put up much of a fight, but did wait it out until I got 100% warscore. The County of Valladolid is now mine. I give it to my son, Duke Blasco.

October 24, 1160
Mauretania has declared war on us. They are after Murcia.

December 29, 1161
The Pope is demanding that I change the law in my lands to be Papal Investiture, rather than Free. I comply.

April 1st, 1162
Epic battle. My 13k stack vs. their 13k stack. We win the battle, but both sides lost more than half. We had 6000 left, they had 4500 left.

August 11, 1164
I have a new son (with a new wife). His name is Ramiro.

November 15, 1165
The Duchess of Mallorca takes the County of Almeria in their own war.

I installed a Mod that created several more Empires, including Spain. The 1 province win by the Duchess of Mallorca gives me 50% of the counties needed to create the Empire. Technically, 51%. 30 of 59 counties.

IMO, that should be 75% or more....but whatever. I create Spain.

All hail Emperor Sancho!

I give the Kingdom of Leon to my son Prince Sancho. I give the Kingdom of Castille to my son, Prince Blasco.

January 6, 1166
Maurentia surrenders.

January 31, 1166
As reward for her good deeds, I hand over the Duchy of Murcia to the Duchess of Mallorca.

May 13, 1168
I have a new daughter, Ermesinda. And a new son, Rodrigo.

February 14, 1170
I declare war on Toledo for the Duchy of Toledo.

June 14, 1173
I have a daughter named Margarita.

July 1173
Emperor Sancho I has died. Emperor Sancho II takes the throne.

July 22, 1173
And so it begins. King Blasco of Castille declares War. As my war to take Toledo nears its end, I have to hire a few bands of mercs to fight my brother for awhile.

August 6, 1173
The Duchess of Mallorca declares war.

September 27, 1173
The Count of Urgell declares war. Pretty foolish thing to do when I had 6000 troops right next to the county.

December 15, 1173
After defeating his army, I offer the Count of Urgell a White Peace and he takes it.

November 17, 1174
The war with Toledo is over, we gain the Duchy of Toledo.

December 22, 1174
Things just got really interesting.....

Emperor Sancho II dies at the age of 35. His 14 year old son becomes Emperor Sancho III.

Suddenly my demesne is crazy big. 23 / 8. Tons of wrong types. But I don't want to give out lands until these wars are over.

July 13, 1175
Both King Blasco and the Duchess of Mallorca have wanted White Peace. Forget it.

January 6, 1176
The Duchess of Mallorca surrenders. She is now imprisoned.

January 20, 1176
The Count of Leon and Viscaya has declared war.

July 21, 1176
King Blasco surrenders. He is now imprisoned. For some reason, it won't allow me to revoke titles from the Duchess or King Blasco....

Well, I can, but I take a hit. I'll wait a bit.

September 28, 1176
A white peace with the Count of Leon and Viscaya finally brings the wars to an end.

I revoke the Duchy of Badajoz from King Blasco (was able to do that without my vassals hating me for it). Even though it'll hurt me by -20 with my vassals, I revoke the Kingdom of Castille from him as well.

I give the Duchy of Badajoz and the Kingdom of Leon to my 11 year old brother, Facundo.

I give the Duchy of Toledo and the Kingdom of Castille to my 10 year old brother, Boson.

My 13 year old brother and current heir gets the Duchy of Valencia.

This is just going to lead to yet another succession crisis, I'm sure. I'd like all of Spain to be "House of Jimena", but I'm starting to think that non house members might be more loyal and reliable than brothers and uncles.

[sabotai]

January 2, 1178
I was going to call it in for the night and post a new map, but I saw that after my war to take Toledo, the nation fell apart into two separate nations. I don't have a truce with either of them....

War were declared.

November 29, 1179
Both fall and I expand my empire a little bit more. I also create the Duchy of Cordoba.

I give the two counties that make up the Duchy of Cordoba to my brother Esteban, but I keep the title of Duke of Cordoba for myself.

You can see the latest map that France is falling apart. The HRE is going through the same mess.

The Iberian Peninsula - 1180

[sabotai]

March 29, 1180
One last thing. My brother, King Facundo I of Leon dies and the kingdom passes back to me.

May 21, 1180
My wife gives birth to a son, Sancho. I give him the Kingdom of Leon.

[sabotai]

July 19, 1180
With France is such disarray, I declare war on the king of France for the county of Roselle.

March 31, 1181
France can't put up any kind of fight. We easily take back Roselle as King Payen I for France offers up his surrender.

July 26, 1184
I declare a Holy War for Granada.

October 5, 1184
My 4 year old son, King of Leon, has died. Guess I'll just hold on to the title of King of Leon for a bit.

I give the Duchy of Badajoz to Aurelio de Quintana. No more family members to hand titles to. I should probably just try to get those Kingdoms back. Trying to please brothers and uncles is too much work.

January 21, 1185
I have a new son named Ansur.

March 3, 1186
I have a new son named Vela.

January 3, 1188
The war for Granada is over. I've won.

I create the Duchy of Granada.

I also take this chance to revoke Boson's title as King of Castille. I had wanted to spread the kingdoms out and watch individual Jimena families grow, but already a few wars from brothers and uncles have me convinced that that is never going to happen.

January 17, 1188
My brother accepts me revoking his title. I thought for sure that I was going to be fighting another war. He remains Duke of Toledo.

I hand the Duchy of Granada to Garcia de Candamio.

So now, my title holdings are Emperor of Spain, King of Aragon, King of Castille, King of Leon, Duke of Barcelona, Count of Tarragona, Count of Lleida, Count of Urgell, Count of Empuries, plus a few Baronies.

[sabotai]

March 30, 1188
Aurelio de Quintana died without an heir. I get the Duchy of Badajoz back and I give it to Blasco de Padilla

April 29, 1189
I guess Boson changed his mind. He declares war.

January 2, 1190
And now Blasco de Padilla has died. Guzman de Alarcon is now Duke of Badajoz.

July 23, 1190
Prince Boson offers his surrender. He is now imprisoned. I revoke the Duchy of Toledo from him as punishment.

I seems like Prince Esteban is next in line. He hates me and I hate him.

Just for fun, I award Esteban with the title of Court Jester.

August 2, 1191
Duke Alfonso I of Mallorca has declared war. He is the son of the now late Duchess. His fate will be the same as her's.

November 29, 1191
My son Ansur has died. That's the second son of mine that has died early....

March 1, 1192
I caught Prince Esteban in a plot against me and I tried to arrest him but he escaped and I'm now dealing with my second rebellion.

July 19, 1194
Mallorca surrenders. I revoke the title of Duke of Mallorca from Alfonso I.

January 6, 1195
I have a new daughter named Cristina

October 14, 1196
Esteban finally submits and is now imprisoned.

June 12, 1198
Emperor Sancho The Great has died at the age of 37. He is succeeded by his son Vela, now Emperor Vela I of Spain.

July 31, 1198
The Duke of Badajoz has declared war.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by sabotai

November 29, 1191
My son Ansur has died. That's the second son of mine that has died early....

Since my only real knowledge of the CK series is through the dynasties I've read, I'm curious ... is this the sort of thing the game will do (overtly or covertly) as a sort of generic trait thing? Or is it just random bad luck?

[sabotai]

Probably random bad luck. Could be people assassinating my children. I had given both of them titles, and that might have made them bigger targets.

[Izulde]

Also could be they were born with a low health score (which is a hidden rating).

[sabotai]

My plan for my dynasty's holdings was simple. I wanted to keep the Duchy of Barcelona, plus all of the counties of Barcelona, controlled directly by the King...well, now Emperor. As well as all of the non-capital Baronies in the Duchy of Barcelona.

Now I have a child on the throne. His max Demesne size is 8. I've gotten used to having a max Demesne of 11.

So goodbye to a few baronies. Now I only have the Baronies in the County of Barcelona. And my income takes a minor dent.

November 4, 1198
We defeated the armies of the Duke of Badajoz. It's just a matter of time now.

December 27, 1199
The History tab on the noble titles simply gives a list of the people holding the titles, so I do not know how this happened. On April 22, 1190, King Leon I of France become the King of England. That was less than a year after he became King of France. He is 22 years old now.

June 30, 1200
The Duke of Badajoz surrenders. He is now imprisoned.

This is the point where I would typically revoke his title of Duke. The issue is that I also gave him all of the counties of the Duchy of Badajoz. That ensured his loyalty under the previous monarch. But not this one.

If I take the title of Duke from him, it becomes mine. I can't give it to anyone else unless I take a County from him as well, and that will piss off my vassals. If I take the Duchy and keep it, that pisses off my vassals (Too Many Duchies).

So he will keep the title of Duchy, but I will take one of his counties from him. And he will stay in jail for the rest of his life.

And that is how I will deal with these revolts in the future. If a person holds a Duchy plus multiple Counties, I'll strip them of their counties first. I've learned that the heir of rebellious Dukes and Duchesses will revolt as well. As they keep rebelling, I'll keep taking counties until they have just the 1 county and 1 title of Duchy left. Then I will take the Duchy as they rebel themselves down to just a lowly Count.

I take the County of Caceres from the Duke of Badajoz. That county is the wealthiest of his 4.

My cousin, the Duke of Valencia, will probably be rebelling next.

August 28, 1203
I declare a Holy War for Asturias on Portugal.

September 28, 1203
The Pope gave me 200 gold to aid in the good fight.

May 19, 1204
The Sultan of Portugal realizes that resistance is futile. They surrender.

I create the Duchy of Asturias and give out the titles won.

October 25, 1204
My cousin the Duke of Valencia declares war.

March 26, 1205
The Duke of Valencia dies on the field of battle. The war is over.

May 6, 1205
The Duchess of Leon has declared war.

October 12, 1205
The Duchess of Leon surrenders. She only has the one county, and is now stripped of her title as Duchess of Leon.

November 8, 1207
The new Duke of Valencia declares war.

April 15, 1208
The Duke of Valencia dies. The war is over.

Second time I've been robbed of the chance to revoke titles....bleh.

July 7, 1208
The Duke of Castille declares war.

August 22, 1208
The Duke of Murcia comes to the aid of the Duke of Castille.

May 29, 1209
The Duke of Navarra has declared war.

August 31, 1210
The Duke of Badajoz has declared war. WTF is going on?

October 5, 1210
The Duke of Leon has declared war.

.....crap.

November 5, 1210
The Duke of Castille accepts a White Peace.

November 25, 1210
The Duke of Murcia accepts me revoking the County of Almansa from him.

December 3, 1210
The Duke of Castille accepts me taking the County of Cuenca from him.

June 11, 1211
The Duke of Badajoz offers a White Peace and I take it.

October 13, 1211
The Sultan of Africa has declared war to take Valencia.

July 2, 1212
The Duke of Navarra accepts a White Peace.

July 12, 1212
The Duke of Leon accepts a White Peace. That's finally over and I can concentrate on Africa.

November 1, 1212
I (finally) have a son. His name is Sancho.

February 7, 1214
My war with Africa has gone well and they are having a lot of trouble landing enough troops on my shore to really offer up a fight.

The Duke of Castille tried to poison me and I try to imprison him. He escapes and rebels.

February 24, 1214
My wife dies. Time to try to find another.

March 17, 1214
I marry a Princess of France.

August 2, 1216
The Scourge has arrived.....

I think I'm safe for now.

July 7, 1217
I have a second son, Vela.

July 26, 1217
The Duke of Castille offers his surrender. He is now imprisoned.

September 20, 1217
Africa offers its surrender.

Finally, no more war....

October 4, 1217
Nevermind, the Duke of Marcia declares war.

December 2, 1217
I hadn't sent my levies home yet. The war was short.

[sabotai]

January 25, 1218
The Duchess of Valencia has rebelled. Hopefully this time, the leader doesn't die on the battle field and I get a chance to revoke a title.

August 25, 1219
The Duchess of Valencia surrenders. I revoke the county of Calatrava. And then I release her from prison (hoping that she'll rebel again at some point). It also has the added benefit of making all of my vassals like me a little more for being merciful.

May 13, 1222
I have a daughter named Elvira.

June 28, 1222
It's time I started expanding across the Mediterranean. I declare a Holy War on Kabylia for Sardinia. THey have Corsica and half of the island of Sardinia. Africa has the other half.

July 23, 1222
The Duke of Navarra takes this chance to declare war. Lucky for me, I'm not going to nearly need as many troops as I have to take Sardinia. I can leave plenty behind to whip the Duke.

July 28, 1222
Nevermind, Kabylia surrenders to Africa in their war and all of Sardinia is once again Africa's.

June 24, 1223
The Duke of Navarra surrenders.

July 22, 1223
France has now taken the entire west coast of the Iberian Peninsula.

I declare Holy War on Seville to take Cordoba.

December 16, 1223
Seville was down to just that one county and didn't stand a chance.

January 26, 1225
The Duchess of Leon declares war.

April 10, 1225
I have a son named Fernando.

May 24, 1225
The Duchess surrenders. She is now imprisoned, and I revoke the county of Salamanca and the title of Duchess (taking the opinion hit).

June 1, 1225
I try to implement Absolute Crown Authority for the Empire of Spain. Aragon and Mallorca immediately rebels.

October 22, 1226
Aragon accepts surrender. The Duke of Aragon is not imprisoned (it was a Civil War to lower crown authority) but I was able to revoke title without an opinion hit. Except he decided not to accept my revoking of his title and rebelled again. Which was really foolish since I still had 15k in his land.

July 27, 1227
The Duke of Castille has declared war.

September 11, 1227
The Duchess of Granada and the Duke of Murcia come to Castille's side.

January 20, 1228
I have a son named Alvar

April 26, 1228
The entire Iberian Peninsula is now in Christian hands.....thanks to France. *mad face*

August 31, 1228
The war is not going well. I am forced to hire some mercs.

January 26, 1229
The Duke of Aragon offers his surrender. I can now turn my focus on Castille-Murcia-Granada.

August 28, 1229
The Duchess of Valencia rebels.

July 14, 1230
I have a daughter named Ines.

October 11, 1230
Castille accepts a White Peace.

July 28, 1231
The Duchess of Valencia surrenders and will do without the County of La Mancha.

October 26, 1231
After all of these rebellions and chances to revoke titles, I have fixed most of the mess I helped create. I finally have most of the counties under the correct de jure Duchy. I had a few too many too powerful vassals who held multiple duchies, a duchy plus counties in other duchies....a total mess.

I suppose I now have to turn my attention towards France, who still holds the west coast of the Iberian Peninsula plus a bit of the south, as well as all of England. War isn't going to get it done. I will need a different tactic for them.

[sabotai]

March 11, 1233
I sent assassins to Paris with the son of the King of France being the target. One of them was caught and my involvement became known. Shortly after, an assassin was successful.

As of right now, the Kingdom of France has one heir (Duke Orson II of Beja) and the Kingdom of England has another (Princess Judith of France). As long as the king has no son, the kingdoms will now be split. The King of France is 55.

July 1, 1236
I got tired of waiting and sent an assassin at the King of France. It worked, but I was found out. Small price. The Kingdom of France and the Kingdom of England are finally separated.

I'm now going to try to wait until France fractures into civil war. In the meantime, I've got some claims to fabricate.

January 22, 1237
The Duchess of Valencia was plotting to have me killed. I imprisoned her and then took the opinion hit to execute her.

February 4, 1237
The Duke of Valencia (son of the recently executed Duchess) declares war.

March 17, 1238
With the island county of Menorca converting to Catholic, all of Spain is now a Catholic nation.

October 3, 1238
The Duke of Valencia surrenders. He is imprisoned, and I take the county of Castellon from him.

October 30, 1238
The lords have approved Absolute Crown Authority for the Empire of Spain.

November 2, 1238
The Duke of Murcia rebels.

October 8, 1239
Murcia surrenders.

Time to claim some land. I declare war on Africa for the island of Sardinia.

May 30, 1240
The new King of France didn't last long. He died and his son became a child King. Dukes and Duchesses have taken this chance to break away. My problem is I don't have many claims to press. Beja and Portucale have decalred war on France. Hopefully they can win and then I can pick them off one at a time.

October 20, 1240
The Duke of Castille rebels. Luckily I left half of my forces in Spain to fight off a possible attack from Africa (and....just in case something like this happened).

February 9, 1241
Africa surrenders.....they are weaker than I thought. Time to start picking off lands from them as soon as the truces are up.

September 21, 1241
Cordoba joins Castille.

December 31, 1241
The Duke of Mallorca and Badajoz declare their own war.

March 20, 1242
Emperor Vela the Fat has died at the age of 56. His son, Sancho, becomes Emperor Sancho IV.

April 21, 1242
The Duke of Granada comes to Castille's aid. The county of Castellon delcare their own war.

May 17, 1242
I offer a White Peace to Castille and they accept. That ends most of my problems.

March 27, 1143
I offer a White Peace to the Duke of Mallorca and Badajoz and they accept.

May 24, 1243
I guess everyone wants a turn. The Duke of Austurias declares war.

I think it's time for a tyrant....

September 2, 1243
My half-brother, the Count of Castellon, surrenders.

March 19, 1245
The Duke of Austurias surrenders and is now imprisoned.

May 8, 1245
Ok, I'm about to act like a crazy tyrant. There's going to rebellions all over the place. What I am going to do is revoke everyone's title. Each and every one.

After all, the emperor should really hold everything....right?

[sabotai]

May 23, 1245
I begin by trying to take the County of Roselle, which rebels.

June 20, 1245
The Duke of Aragon has declared war.

June 24, 1245
Emperor Sancho IV dies. Long live Emperor Sancho V (age 10).

Crazy child Emperor? You bet'cha.

August 30, 1245
The Duke of Castille rebels again.

January 9, 1246
Rosella surrenders. I revoke the County of Rosella.

February 24, 1246
I finish going through my prisons, revoking everyone's title and then releasing them. My demesne is now 23 / 9.

May 30, 1247
Thieves guilds and highwaymen are a plague on my country right now....I suppose that's one penalty of having a large Demesne.

March 28, 1250
I lost half of Sardinia to Africa during these rebellions. I'll get it back.

May 14, 1250
The Duke of Aragon surrenders. He goes to prison where I'll revoke every title of his.

June 3, 1250
The Duke of Leon declares war.

January 8, 1252
The Duke of Leon surrenders.

January 26, 1252
The Duke of Mallorca and Badajoz declares war.

January 10, 1254
I have a son named Sancho.

February 25, 1255
Badajoz and Mallorca surrender.

May 10, 1257
Castille finally surrenders.

July 31, 1257
I have a son named Alvar.

February 6, 1258
The Duke of Toledo declares war. Almost finished....

September 22, 1258
The Duke of Navarra declares war.

August 11, 1259
Toledo surrenders.

February 23, 1260
Navarra surrenders. I now hold all Duchy and County titles in the Empire.

That was actually very close. If they had actually organized a rebellion instead of doing it one at a time, I would have had no chance. But one or two at a time was manageable.

My Demesne is 47 / 10. I gave away the cities, bishoprics and baronies (outside of Barcelona) that I took from the rebels. One of the issues I had is that many AI characters had holdings all over the place. The Duke of Castille had as few counties, plus a few baronies and cities in different counties.

Consider this an extreme version of "corporate restructuring" with a Roman Empire style purge. After some time, I'm going to start giving out titles again. In fact, I'm going to need to do them all at once to make sure they don't do any rebelling. I'm going to make sure that everyone just gets one county, and that those counties go to their de jure Duchies. Also, every Duke gets just one Duchy and just one County.

I actually have a huge amount of people in my Court right now.

June 6, 1261
I set all of my Kingdoms to Absolute Crown Authority.

July 2, 1261
I have a daughter named Duena....she's a bastard child. I legitimize her.

April 23, 1262
Time to give out all of the counties and Duchies. I intend to keep the Duchy of Aragon for myself, as well as all of the counties that make up the Duchy of Barcelona. I've also decided to give away the extra Baronies in the county of Barcelona to give my Demesne size some breathing room.

And so ends my brief experiment to hold everything. Not a moment too soon, either. I was getting all kinds of "Thieves Guilds" and "Robbers" events. There are a few minor threats of revolt, but all of the dukes and counts love me.....so far. Mainly because I didn't give any count of duke titles to any former count or duke. I did have to spend a considerable amount of money to bring several noble men to my court, but it was worth it. Hopefully, things stay stable for a bit now.

Emperor Sancho V started this project when he was 10. He is now 27 with a few children and is married to a princess of France.

[sabotai]

September 24, 1262
I declare Holy War on Africa for Cagliari, the second half of Sardinia. They are in the middle of a civil war so it's a good time to strike.

May 12, 1263
I have a son, Sebastian.

December 9, 1263
Africa surrenders. All of Sardinia is now mine.

Africa has several counties in Italy, and Sicily is a muslim nation that extends up the middle of Italy to the steps of Rome. As much as I want to unify the Iberian Peninsula, I think being the savior of Italy would be good too.

December 12, 1263
I declare a Holy War on Sicily for the Duchy of Sicily.

May 2, 1264
I have a daughter named Blanca. She's a bastard and I denounce her.

December 2, 1265
Sicily surrenders. I now have most of the island of Sicily. Only the county of Messina remains in Sicily's hands.


Spanish Empire - 1265

[sabotai]

June 14, 1269
I have a daughter named Anderquina.

March 29, 1271
I have a daughter named Urraca.

December 6, 1275
Africa has taken Rome.

I declare a Holy War on Sicily for Calabria.

February 28, 1277
Sicily surrenders. I'm moving up the Italian Peninsula...

March 12, 1277
The Duke of Navarra declares war.

September 30, 1277
The King of France found out that I was trying to sow dissent in his kingdom.

January 7, 1278
Navarra surrenders.

I declare a Holy War on Africa for Rome. They are once again in the middle of half of their kingdom trying to break away.

February 10, 1279
Africa surrenders. They offered up no resistance.

I give the Pope the Bishopric of Rome......I think I'll hang on to the rest.

September 21, 1281
I declare a Holy War on Mauretania for Tlemcen. France is taking them apart bit by bit and I need to grab some before it's all gone.

May 3, 1283
Emperor Sancho V dies at the age of 48. Long live Emperor Sancho VI.

November 8, 1283
Meuretania surrenders.

December 12, 1283
The Duke of Leon declares war.

July 10, 1284
The Duke of Leon surrenders. I strip him of his title as Duke and give it to the one of the other counts in the de jure Duchy of Leon. Nice and clean.

September 1, 1284
I have a son named Roman. That makes 4 sons. The other three, in order of age, are Sancho, Ramiro and Guillen.

[sabotai]

March 5, 1285
I declare a Holy War on Africa for Pisa (part of Italy's west coast). One good thing about having a ruler die is that it erases all of his truces. Africa is still split in half so it's time to poach another chunk of land.

December 10, 1285
I have son named Andres. 5 sons....I have a feeling a succession war might be coming in the future.

September 17, 1286
The Duke of Murcia declares war.

October 8, 1286
Emperor Sancho VI dies at the age of 32. Long Live Emperor Sancho VII (age: 8)

March 2, 1287
I captured the heir of Africa, Prince Abdul-Gafur.

I executed him.

April 6, 1287
Africa surrenders. Pisa is now mine.

May 1, 1288
The Duke of Murcia surrenders.

July 24, 1288
I declare war on Mauretania for Tangiers.

July 14, 1289
Mauretania surrenders.

October 7, 1289
The Duke of Badajoz declares war.

September 6, 1290
The Duke of Badajoz surrenders. He is no longer Duke of Badajoz...

July 14, 1292
I declare war on Sicily for Salerno.

May 21, 1294
Sicily surrenders.

[sabotai]

January 25, 1299
I have a son named Luis.

August 29, 1300
I have a daughter named Violante.

November 27, 1301
I declare war on Mauretania. They just have one county left.

August 7, 1302
Mauretania surrenders.

May 26, 1304
I declare war on Sicily for the county of Spoleto.

July 9, 1305
Sicily surrenders.

[sabotai]

July 18, 1307
My cousin, Duchess Eslonza I of Portucale, has declared war on the King of France and Portugal to gain independence. Time to play with the big boys, I offer to join the war.

August 2, 1307
She accepts. I am now at war with France.

May 16, 1309
France surrenders. They won a few battles, but I won more. Plus, I was able to put troops into several spots whereas they concentrated their forces. When I defeated their large armies, they didn't have much of a choice. As you can see on the previous map, France has a few other Duchies that have successfully split from France.

Also of note, France is now ruled by an Andalusian branch of House Capet.

June 2, 1309
I waste no time. I offer my cousin vassalization and she accepts. The Duchy of Porticule is now part of the Spanish Empire.

June 10, 1309
Sicily is down to just one county...Venice. I decide to not let someone else have it and break my truce and take the 100 Prestige hit.

July 9, 1309
I have a son named Ansur.

January 2, 1311
I just noticed that I have a county in the northern part of France. The Count is a vassal of the Duchess that just joined my Empire.

In other news, the HRE is breaking apart quickly. Norway is trying to break free again, and this time a lot of other counties and duchies have declared war as well.

I actually have a claim on the Holy Roman Empire......hmm...

December 3, 1311
I have a son named Boson.

February 1, 1312
Sicily is no more. Venice is now in the hands of the Spanish Empire.

Africa is once again broken in half. I declare war to try to take Alger.

May 28, 1313
Africa surrenders.

I create the Kingdom of Mauretania.

November 20, 1315
My wife died............enough mourning, time to find a new one.

December 5, 1315
I marry a princess from the Poland-Lithuania Empire.

December 17, 1317
The Duchess of Brittany came to me with an offer to Invite to Plot to make France and Elective Succession. That might just do the trick in splitting up the Kingdom of France and the Kingdom of Portugal. I accept.

January 18, 1318
The war is now on. I am now involved in the French Civil War to institute Elective Succession.

July 7, 1322
The Duke of Pisa declares war. Really? At this moment? Bastard will pay.

March 6, 1323
The war on France is now at 100%. Only a matter of time now.

August 11, 1323
The French Civil War (with an assist from the Empire of Spain) is over. The Duchess of Brittany won, and the succession law of the Kingdom of France is now Agnatic Elective.

October 16, 1323
I have a son named Manuel.

June 4, 1324
The Duke of Pisa surrenders. He is now in prison, where he'll stay for the rest of his life.

July 30, 1325
The Duke of Venice declares War. My own son.....guess he'll be dying in prison too. A shame, he's unmarried and has no kids.

April 21, 1326
The Duke of Venice surrenders.

May 26, 1326
I fabricate a claim on the Duchy of Beja. I can't go to war for it yet. France is just about whole again. Have to wait for the Kingdoms to split.

April 7, 1328
The Kingdoms of France and Portugal finally split. The bad news, Portugal only got the Duchy of Beja. Everything else stayed with France.

Oh well, time to take Beja.

August 9, 1328
The Duchy of Beja is now mine.

[Alf]

reading here. Interesting.

[sabotai]

Thanks for reading!

I think using the Empires mod that gave me the Spanish Empire sorta made the game super easy mode. When I was juggling kingdoms, it was hard, people were revolting, sons and brothers tried to grab what they could. Annoying, but also more realistic than what's happening now. Right now, all of the titles, Empire and Kingdoms, are passed to one heir, and while sons and brothers aren't happy, there's not much they can do about it now. The rebel sometimes, but because I have all of the Kingdom titles locked up, and I only give out Duchies and Counties in a way to limit everyone's power, rebellions are easily squashed.

I think for the next game, I'm not going to use a mod that adds so many Empires. Maybe one that adds a few really big ones, but the one I'm using now (CK Empires) adds too many smallish ones that don't break up.

February 19, 1329
I decide to set my son, the Duke of Venice, free.

August 22, 1329
My son and heir, Luis, dies after an illness at age 30.

July 24, 1332
Just noticed that my grandson (through a daughter, so not House Jimena) is the King of Norway (part of the HRE) and is the heir to the Kingdom of England.

November 27, 1333
I declare war on Africa. This is to kick Africa off the Italian Peninsula.

January 19, 1334
Emperor Sancho the Great has died. His grandson, Sancho, takes over and is now Emperor Sancho VIII.

February 15, 1335
Africa surrenders.

February 24, 1335
The Duke of Venice declares war.

May 20, 1335
The Duke of Badajoz declares war.

I've looked around my vassals and some of them are starting to really want my Kingdoms. I'm thinking of giving them out, because it doesn't really matter. I'm emperor.

They could rebel like they did in the past....so maybe not....

February 1, 1336
The Duke of Venice surrenders. Once again, he is in prison.

October 25, 1336
The Duke of Pisa declares war. I should not have freed him from prison.

February 24, 1337
The Duke of Alger declares war.

October 8, 1338
The Duke of Badajoz surrenders.

February 21, 1339
The Duke of Pisa surrenders.

September 30, 1339
I have a son named Sancho.

January 13, 1340
The Duke of Alger surrenders.

May 10, 1340
Africa again is broken in half. I break the truce and declare a Holy War for Tunis.

June 26, 1341
I have a daughter named Velasquita.

February 3, 1344
After a large battle in which Africa threw everything they had left at us and lost, they offer their surrender.

February 18, 1344
The Duke of Tangiers declares war.

April 4, 1344
I have a son named Luis.

May 31, 1344
The Duke of Cordoba and the Duke of Granada have come to Tangiers' side.

November 11, 1344
The allies came too late. The Duke of Tangiers surrenders after I take both of his counties.

June 10, 1345
I give my 1 year old son Luis the Duchy and County of Tunis. I also give him the title King of Mauretania and vassal transfer the Dukes to him.

August 1, 1345
I give the title King of Portugal to my uncle and current Duke of Beja, Prince Manuel of Spain.

August 12, 1345
I have a son named Menendo.

September 30, 1345
I give Venice to my newborn son. The County, Duchy and Kingdom.

[sabotai]

March 2, 1347
I have a daughter, Usenda.

March 3, 1348
I have a daughter named Juliana.

November 28, 1349
I have a son named Domingo.

June 13, 1351
I have twin sons named Alvar and Bernardo. Damn, these two are really pumping them out! That's nine children for Emperor VIII.

April 9, 1352
The HRE and France are at war. I'm going to wait a bit and then strike at France to try to take a County or Duchy.

April 17, 1353
I change my mind. I strike at the HRE. I declare war on them for Naples. I have someone that has a claim on The Kingdom of Naples (the wife of the King of Portugal) and so I'm going after that nice chunk of Italy.

March 13, 1354
I have a son named Vela.

July 10, 1355
The HRE surrender.

It's way too easy to get to a warscore of 100% right now. All I have to do is take a few counties and that's it. The HRE were sufficiently distracted by France and I was able to just assault counties, quickly take them and push the warscore to 100%.

So now there's King-Bishop Elisabeth I of Naples, the wife of the King of Portugal but not my vassal. Also, when I highlighted the choice, all of Naples was highlighted on the map. But after the war, only 1 county went to her, the rest is still with the HRE.

Wonder if that's why it was easy to get the warscore up quickly, because I didn't gain anything and the HRE barely last anything....

I want land!

I declare war on France now for the County of Corfuna, one half of Galicia.

August 8, 1356
France surrenders without putting up much of a fight. The war with HRE, which is still going on, has them pretty locked up.

I create the Kingdom of Galicia to add to my many Kingdom titles.

Also, Whales has taken a chunk of French lands. The King of Wale inherited Toulouse and Normandie.

Another item of note, both the King of Wales and the King of England are Frankish. France are listed as Frankish, but the last several kings have been very Andalusian looking.

June 21, 1361
I declare holy war for Kabylia against Egypt (Africa took over all of Egypt and changed its name).

February 3, 1362
Egypt surrenders (at warscore: 26%)

I hand out all of the titles, one of my sons becomes Duke of Kabylia and I transfer him to my other son, the King of Meuretania.

I also usurp the title of King of Africa. I've thought of giving that to King Luis of Mauretania as well, but that might make him more powerful. Best ot keep it for myself for the time being.

June 13, 1362
I declare war on the King-Bishop Elisabeth of Naples for someone's claim on Benevento.

September 9, 1362
She surrenders.....hey, I thought we had an agreement that she would be my vassal. I wanted Italian land.

I also create the Kingdom of Sicily.

April 15, 1366
I declare war on the HRE for Capua. They only have a small war going on now so this will be a test.

January 14, 1367
I take the counties of Naples and Capua by assaulting and get up to 100% warscore easily and get them to surrender.

May 12, 1367
I give the County of Capua to one of my sons, and then give him the title King of Sicily.

I transfer the Count of Salerno and the Duke of Spoleto and Calabria to him as well. The Count of Benevento, however, is under the Duke of Kabylia who is a vassal of the King of Mueretnia. That puts most of the Italian Peninsula under my son King Domingo I of Sicily.

September 7, 1367
I give the Duchy of Aragon and Kingdom of Aragon to my son and heir, Prince Sancho.

December 17, 1367
I offer the Duke of Salerno to join his war for Independence against the HRE.

January 1, 1368
He accepts and I am once again at war against the HRE.

November 13, 1368
Yeah, this whole game is now easy mode. I take two counties and the HRE surrenders. That needs work.

Salerno gains its independence. But they won't become my vassal.....

May 3, 1369
Now I remember one reason I didn't give out kingdoms.....The King of Mueretania is now at war with the King of Aragon.

Brothers will fight, I guess.

The last thing I want is for my heir to lose out in a war, so I give the Kingdoms of Castille, Navarra and Leon as well.

November 7, 1369
I declare war on Salerno for one of my vassals. He had his chance to join me.

December 1, 1370
Salerno now belongs to one of my vassals. I transfer him to the King of Sicily.

September 26, 1373
With France locked into a war with the HRE, I declare war on France for the county of Santiago.

March 6, 1374
France surrenders (warscore: 26%). The county of Santiago is now mine and the Iberian Peninsula is starting to look right. Still a blue blob in the south, west part of ti, though.

July 7, 1375
The war between the King of Aragon (my heir) and his brother the King of Mauretania has shifted to the Mauretania's favor.

That's enough children. I take the opinion hit and revoke the title King of Mauretania and give it to my heir, the King of Aragon. That ends the war.

I think my heir has way too much power now.....I'm old though. I should just abdicate but I don't have that option.

I give the former King of Mauretania the Kingdom of Africa, though. That makes him happy again. And since he had the Duchy of Tunis, it evens things back out.

August 8, 1377
I declare a Holy war on Egypt for the rest of Sicily.

November 1, 1377
That didn't take long. They surrender. I now have Malta and the entire island of Sicily.

December 1, 1379
One good thing about giving out most of my kingdoms is that I don't have to worry about of deal with peasant revolts anymore. Those are someone else's problem.

July 22, 1381
My son and heir, Sancho.....man, I don't want him taking over. He's got all kinds of bad traits. I also keep getting "Righteous Imprisonment" for him.

I try....

And fail!

Crap.

I've got Portugal, Cordoba, County of Seville and Barcelona. He's got half of my African holdings. He has Mallorca, I have Saldana. But I do have all of Italy.

The County of Santiago has taken this chance to try to break free. Fine by me, she was under my son.

Father vs. Son!

November 13, 1382
France has come to the aid of King of Galicia (the title my son made his primary). With my army from Italy, I was definitely going to win. Now, it's a toss up.

In my favor, my son is having a hell of a time keeping his vassals in order. They keep rebelling.

May 28, 1383
My son's armies are pretty much crushed. France, on the other hand, out man me 2 to one. But, the AI isn't doing it's "stack of doom" strat. Their armies are spread out. I can win if I hunt them down one at a time. I have two 25k armies to hunt down their 6 or 7 10-15k armies.

June 30, 1383
One down...

October 4, 1383
Down goes two and three.

December 9, 1383
Down goes number 4.

February 21, 1384
Took care of number 5. There' 2 more that I can see. Probably more in the Fog of War.

Actually, I mistook France's role. They are fighting for their claim on Galicia, not on their side. Either way, I must fight them.

August 10, 1384
Lost one of my armies. France has too many for me...

November 29, 1384
I offer my son a White Peace and he accepts....

That was close.

I guess I just have to accept that my terrible, tyranical son will be Emperor some day. I guess I sided with the wrong son in the war between Aragon and Mauretania a while back.

March 8, 1388
I tried to plot to revoke the County of Urgall from my terrible son. I decline to go to war over it, losing Prestige and opinion with those who backed me.

October 19, 1388
I take a chance. I try to assassinate my son. I had a 19% chance of success (but I put my Spymaster in his county) and a 60% of being found out.

Success....on both counts. My horrible son is finally dead.

His son, my grandson, is now heir. He's Frankish, Charitable but Craven and Arbitrary. Better than the previous option.

July 4, 1389
My grandson, King Sancho II of Africa, successfully expanded his kingdom and took Tripolitania.

July 30, 1389
Emperor Sancho The Great (yes, another one, aka Emperor Sancho VIII. Long live Emperor Foulques I.

I hand the title of King of Mauretania to my kinsman, Duke Boson II of Alger.

The next several years are going to be rough.

[sabotai]

August 2, 1389
And so it begins. The Count of Seville declares war.

August 13, 1389
The Count of Calatayud declares war.

August 17, 1389
The Duchess of Murcia and Asturias declares war.

Man, some of these Duchy titles have gotten all screwed up again.

January 27, 1390
Calatayud surrenders and I revoke his title.

March 13, 1390
The Duke of Navarra declares war.

April 15, 1390
The Count of Plasencia and Caceres declares war.

May 23, 1390
The King of Venice declares war for Independence.

May 31, 1390
The Duke of Cordoba declares war.

July 26, 1390
The Duke of Mallorca declares war.

July 29, 1390
The King of Mauretania declares war.

Now it's getting interesting....

October 1, 1390
Seville surrenders.

April 6, 1391
Mallorca surrenders. I captured the Duke on the battle field.

April 25, 1391
I offer the King of Venice a White Peace and he accepts.

June 24, 1391
I offer the Duke of Navarra a White Peace. The reason I'm doing this is because I noticed that all of these little wars are causing others to get think about rebelling as well. I want these wars to end now.

July 29, 1391
The Duchess of Castille declared war.

October 14, 1391
The Duchess of Pisa declares war.

February 12, 1392
The Duchess of Pisa dies so the war ends.

February 23, 1392
The Duke of Sardinia declares war.

June 12, 1392
The King of Mauretania has died so that war ends.

June 22, 1392
The son wastes no time and declares war. Mauretania is in revolt again.

August 18, 1392
Castille accepts a White Peace.

September 11, 1392
The Duke of Cordoba dies and so that war ends.

December 23, 1392
The Duchess of Asturia accepts a White Peace.

December 28, 1392
The King of Sicily declares war. No more Mr. Nice Guy...

July 1, 1393
The Count of Plasencia and Caceres surrenders. He dies.

July 26, 1394
Portugal declares war. They aren't trying for freedom, they want all of Spain.

January 1, 1395
I surrender to Mauretania and Sicily, allowing them to go free.

My Crown Authority drops down to Medium due to those two surrenders. But this gives me only 3 wars to deal with for now, and I have a claim on the Kingdoms of Mauretania and Sicily. So once I clean up house and recover a bit, I'll be coming for what's mine.

August 23, 1395
Emperor Foulques dies. Long live Empress Melisendre......under suspicious circumstances....

November 29, 1395
Africa comes to Portugal's side.

September 8, 1396
After I lay siege to Lisboa, Portugal accepts a White Peace.

Now I need to get all of these rebelling counties back into the fold.

Damn it, this was the reason I didn't want that one son to inherit. It goes to his son and all hell breaks loose. I guess I shouldn't have given out those Kingdoms, or given so many to that one POS son....

December 2, 1398
It's over.

The Spanish Empire with the Kingdoms of Mauretania and Sicily as independents (they won't be for long.....)

[sabotai]

December 19, 1398
I am forced to implement Limited Crown Authority in the Kingdom of Aragon. It was either that or civil war. Everything else is still medium.

August 20, 1399
I have a daughter named Mayor.

September 5, 1399
I declare war on Sicily who got themselves into a war with England.

May 8, 1400
Since Empress Melisendre is Orthodox, counties in Spain are starting to convert. One of the issues I have with this game is religion spreads way too fast. Spain would not start becoming Orthodox when it had been Catholic for centuries because they suddenly had an Orthodox leader.

January 15, 1401
I have a son, Benito.

June 20, 1402
Sicily surrenders. One down, one to go.

The problem is that Sicily is filled with dukes ready to revolt. So, I give the King of Sicily title to the Duke of Salerno. I hope that calms them down. While it gives the risk of losing Sicily again down the line, all of those counts and dukes are now under the King of Sicily, who absolutely loves me for giving him a Kingdom.

February 17, 1403
I declare war on Mauretania.

July 30, 1404
I have a daughter named Melisendre.

February 26, 1405
Mauretania surrenders.

Duke Blasco IV of Tlemcen becomes the new King of Mauretania. Same reasoning as before. Too many of the people in power down there hate my guts. If I don't put them under a friendly King, I'll be dealing with nonstop revolts. There is something to be said for me just letting them revolt so I can revoke a title, but I'd rather try for a nice peaceful Spain for now.

Spain is now whole again.

Now I really need several years of peace to allow my levies to replenish. An invasion by France or the HRE right now would be very bad.

I just noticed. Either the HRE inherited England or England willingly joined the HRE.

Looking it over, it seems that the King of Norway inherited the Kingdom of England, and the King of Norway is part of the HRE.

November 29, 1408
With the HRE bogged down in a long civl war, I take my chance to grab Napoli.

September 24, 1409
The HRE surrenders. The County of Napoli now belongs to the King of Sicily.

I create the Kingdom of Naples and keep it for myself.

December 1, 1409
Time to push the Spanish Empire into Egpyt. I declare holy war for Cyrenaica.

June 6, 1410
Egpyt surrenders. The gives the King of Africa his complete de jure kingdom.

October 13, 1410
The King of Sicily declares war. Here we go again....

December 27, 1410
Sicily looks like it imploded. Spoleto, Salerno and Capua all declare war on Sicily. This will make it impossible for Sicily to fight me.

October 13, 1411
Sicily offers a White Peace and I take it. That automatically ends all of the rebellions in Sicily.

[sabotai]

January 4, 1418
I got High Crown Authority in Spain approved.

July 18, 1418
I assassinated on the the vassals of the King of Mauretania. The Duke of Alger and Tangiers was warring on the King, so I stepped in and did what I could. The percentages were in my favor, but it took two tries and on the second attempt, I was found out. Time to do some PR, but at least that little war ended.

In other news, the King of Africa is trying to take Alexandria. Good boy.

September 7, 1418
The Queen of Venice declares war. Seriously, at this point, I might just let Venice go but all of my titles take a hit to Crown Authority. So I can't...

June 7, 1419
The Duke of Asturias declares war.

September 6, 1419
The King of Africa succeeds in his war and takes Alexandria.

October 12, 1419
The Queen of Venice surrenders.

October 12, 1420
The Duke of Asturias surrenders.

April 10, 1421
Africa is again expanding....they're expanding fast. This time they are taking Aswan, an area south of Egypt.

September 13, 1421
My son and heir was killed by the daughter. Even though I know it was her, I can't imprison her without taking a big opinion hit from my vassals? That seems wrong.

November 15, 1421
The Duke of Sardinia declares war.

March 16, 1422
Africa is unable to expand. Egypt's civil war ended and thus, Africa's try to expand.

August 28, 1422
Mauretania is again in civil war. This is what happens when your kingdom is made of 3 Duchies, and one vassal holds 2 of them.

December 16, 1422
Sardinia surrenders.

February 7, 1423
I declare war on Egypt for Damietta.

August 28, 1423
That opportunistic bastard....the King of France declares war. I basically abandon my war vs Egypt for now and focus on France.

June 27, 1424
The Duke of Asturias declares war.

January 10, 1426
I send a large army to Egypt. The warscore is going the wrong way fast. They are small now so hopefully I can knock them off quick.

August 24, 1426
I give the Duke of Asturias a white peace. I'll deal with him later.

December 13, 1426
Egypt Surrenders. Now it's time to teach France a lesson.

October 30, 1427
France surrenders. They lose their claim on Galicia and pay me a bunch of gold.

November 1428
I use a plot to try to revoke a title. He didn't go for it and now the Duke of Leon declares war.

March 23, 1429
The Duke of Alger and Tangiers was successful in his war and is now King of Mauretania.

September 6, 1429
The Duke of Leon surrenders and I take one of his counties. It was one outside of the de jure duchy of Leon so I'm trying to even things out again. I don't need vassals getting too powerful.

July 24, 1430
Truce be damned (after all, there's only a few decades left). I declare war on France for a few counties that I have claims on.

April 22, 1432
France surrenders. I get 2 counties in the Iberian Peninsula. By the time this game is done, I will have booted the French off our land!

1 goes to the King of Portugal.

November 24, 1432
I declare a Holy War on Aswan.

February 19, 1435
Aswan surrenders. As we pushed the old Sultan of Africa east, they became Egypt, and then eventually, Aswan. This marks the official end of the nation that used to give me so many problems.

I create the titular Kingdom of Nubia and the Duchy of Aswan. I give the Duchy of Cairo (but the counties that make it up belong to the King of Africa) and the Duchy of Aswan to my grandson, Duke Hermenegildo I. I then give him the titular title of King of Nubia.

December 2, 1437
I'm running out of time. I declare war on France for a county on the Iberian Peninsula.

This is one thing that really bugs me. I should be able to press all de jure claims in one war. Or, at least, I should be able to declare war for an entire de jure duchy.

June 26, 1438
That didn't last long. I had 30k armies in their counties before they could organize a defense. France surrenders and Portugal is 1 county away from completing it's kingdom.

May 11, 1439
England is no longer a part of the HRE. The King of England also happens to be my son-in-law, although no one in my dynasty appears on the heir list. In fact, a Norwegian is 3rd, so there's no chance I'll get it.

February 8, 1440
I break the truce and attack France for another county.

June 18, 1440
France surrenders. Same as before. I blitzkrieg their counties and they take too long to get organized. It helps that I have these counties on the Iberian Peninsula surrounded and can have 20-30k in them in no time.

June 6, 1442
Break the truce. I only have 11 years left so I need to keep this up.

January 24, 1443
We win again. This time they were in the middle of a civil war.

August 4, 1443
And England is again a part of the HRE. Not sure how that happened either, unless he volunteered to join.

November 12, 1444
The reign of Empress Melisendre is over. She ruled for nearly 50 years. Long live her grandson, Emperor Benito I.

December 15, 1444
The death of the Empress wipes out all truces. Time for war on France again.

May 30, 1445
France surrenders.

October 12, 1445
My plot to assassinate the King of France succeeds. And for the first time since 987 AD, France is being led by a monarch not of the House of Capet. King Gerauld I of the House de Rethel now leads.

January 22, 1446
New King of France, new war on France. This is for the last French held county on the Iberian Peninsula.

July 19, 1446
And France is now off the Iberian Peninsula.

January 31, 1452
Over time, county after county has been converting to Orthodox. The rate increased drastically after I demanded my vassals convert to Orthodox.

On this day, the citizens of Rome have converted to Orthodox.

In fact, Empress Melisendre married a Byzantine noble of House Doukas, the house that has been ruling the Byzantine Empire the whole game. Their son was the current Emperor's father. So in a way, the Spanish Empire became a a bit of a "Roman" empire. The Emperor has Roman blood in him. And even though the marriage was matrilineal, Rome only cared about the fathers, so to a Roman perspective, Emperor Benito I is Roman.

Unfortunately, he can't trace his line directly to a former Emperor of the Byzantine Empire. One his his ancestors was the brother of Basileus Konstantinos X, who died in 1069.

I'm not sure how Melisendre became Orthodox. Her parents and grand parents were all Catholic. Perhaps it was the marriage with the Byzantine noble. However it happened, the Spanish Empire become an Orthodox empire with her, a Roman empire with her grandson and now Rome, almost 400 years after the East-West Schism, has embraced the Eastern Orthodox Church.

The Bishopric of Rome is still in the hands of the Pope.

The followers the Orthodox Church will not stand for a Catholic Pope to reside in the lands of the Eastern Orthodox Church.

The Spanish Empire declares war on the Papacy to expel Pope Martin IV from Rome.

July 3, 1452
The Papacy surrenders. The Pope leaves Rome, and the true Christian church of the Roman Empire has control of the Eternal City once more!

And that would be my last act for this game. Long Live the Roman Empire!

[sabotai]

The Spanish Empire - January 1st, 1453

[Brian Swartz]

Impressive!

[Izulde]

That Orthodox Roman curveball at the end was awesome!

[sabotai]

I didn't get the idea to do that (and double check on the Emperor's lineage) until I saw that popup saying that Rome converted to Orthodox, 11 months before the end of the game.

1) I think I'm going to need to try some other mods, and to get rid of the mod that adds empires to the game. After I formed Spain, it became easy mode. Not only that, the Emperor simply was a level above King. I didn't like that. Emperors should something separate.

I also don't like how all kingdoms are made equal. Just look at the difference between the King of Germany and the King of Italy within the HRE and you'll see what I mean.

It would be nice if there was a way to "vassalize" a title to another title, regardless of the levels. The King of Germany was elected, and then would be named Holy Roman Emperor as well as King of Italy. In a way, the King of Italy title was a vassal of the King of Germany title, and being named Emperor by the Pope was almost always a formality.

So for intents and purposes, he was King of Germany, and the other titles just came with it. King of Italy was in no way shape or form on equal footing.

There are "titular" titles in the game, which could serve a bit of that function. But....not quite there.

I do plan on reading up on the time period and seeing what I can do with modding to make it better, if it's even possible.

2) I absolutely hate only being able to go to war, and stay at war, with just one CB. Make it like Vicky2 where I can add CBs, or let me pick and choose which CBs to use at the start. Hell, make it EU, where I can decide what I want at peace time. This one CB at a time crap is just horrible.

3) For the most part, number of soldiers is the only thing that matters. It was an extreme rarity for me to see an army that was even slightly outnumbered win. 15k vs 13k = 15k wins 99.9% of the time. That's what made beating France so easy near the end. For the Spanish and African counties, I always outnumbered France, but not by all that much. They had to wait until their big armies from the north got to Spain, and by then, it was over.

That's it for now. Great game, some very bad parts, and some real promise.