In a recent game where I finally managed to unify Ireland by 1079 (from the September 1066 start date) securing the Duchies of Munster and Ulster (then offering vassalage to the remaining Irish Kings and Earls), one Earl in particular has been a Thorn in my Side.

My final claim that I pressed was a de Jure Ducal title of Ulster against the Earl of Oriel. He's an ambitious bastard who after the war to make him my vassal completely hated me (-100). As I was under Gavelkind and as the current heir (Brian) has become rather disappointing, I'm looking to pass on all my land to my second son (Donnchad who is ambitious and who I groomed through being his Guardian). The current heir is currently in Prison after plotting to kill one of his younger brothers. As I understand it, heirs in prison shouldn't inherit, so it takes him out of the line of succession.

Getting on in age, there wasn't more that I wanted Murchad to accomplish as he had unified Ireland, but concerned about Title loss on Succession, I gave Thormond and the Duchy of Munster to Donnchad and then followed it up with giving him the counties of Tyrconnell and Ulster and the Ducal title of Ulster, leaving Murchad as King of Ireland and Earl of Tyronne.

When I gave Donnchad the Duchy of Ulster, it got the Earl of Oriel out of my hair and off my vassal list as he became a vassal of my Son. Up till at least the Autosave of 1086, everything was going fine. Donnchad had all the territory I had given him, and the Earl of Oriel was not a threat. I have Autosaves going back to 1084 that the above state of affairs was going fine and wasn't giving me any issues.

Then in September of 1086, I had a notification of a Dangerous Faction, wherein the "Duke of Ulster" was seeking to Lower Crown Authority. I checked to see who this was, and it turned out to be the Earl of Oriel. Somewhere in those previous 8 months ownership of Tyrconnell, Ulster and the Duke of Ulster Titles were transferred to the Earl of Oriel. The Earl of Oriel had either seized, plotted to steal or was actually given the titles by Donnchad, so he became a legitimate threat, because if he were to revolt, he has the resources of at least three counties.

I suspect in an effort to Appease the Ambitious vassal, the AI Donnchad gave the Earl of Oriel the two counties, which then the Earl of Oriel used to usurped the Ducal Title of Ulster, but that doesn't make a whole lot of sense because my son Donnchad is also Ambitious himself.

I could revoke the Earl of Oriel's title, though I've been avoiding doing so because of the Tyrrany penalties.

If I were to have done anything different, I probably would have Fabricated a Claim on Oriel, rather than pressing a Ducal Claim. At least a Fabricated Claim would have meant taking over the county, as opposed to just the Ducal Title which makes the existing Count/Earl a vassal of yours. When it came to Ulster though, the order I took counties primarily was to check how many troops each Earl could muster and which ones had allies that they could possibly call for assistance.

With that said, I did load the 1086 Autosave and played it through without getting the same title switching happening. Eventually, he plotted to Fabricate a Claim or other sort of action. I imprisoned him, though he initially fled to another county. Silly thing is, as King of Ireland, there was no where to run and he was eventually captured. When the option came up, I shipped him off to the Oubliette.

So, anyone else had a situation where titles get randomly moved around, even though it should not theoretically happen? Any "odd" behavior you've observed by the AI?