Medieval Kingdoms Total War: Kingdom of Norway

[Slytacular]

Kingdom of Norway

King Inge II of Norway engaged in uprisings and civil wars throughout his reign. By 1208, King Inge II of Norway is proclaimed as the only King to rule. However, his brother Philip remains to keep his royal seal and title of King. Haakon the Crazy, another contesting brother of King Inge II of Norway also competed for the title of King. By 1217, King Inge II of Norway dies, and his 13 year old illegitimate son, Haakon Haakonsson inherits the kingdom. Haakon IV of Norway rises to the challenge of finishing the Civil War Era that has plagued Norway. Under Haakon's rule, Norway builds a feared and reputable fleet, innovates European literature into Old Norse, sponsors the construction of monumental structures, and adds the territories of Greenland and Iceland to the growing empire. Thus Norway reaches it's height and begins a Golden Age.

Tier 1

King Inge II of Norway

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King Inge, a stoic leader who can rightfully trace his linage from St. Olaf, has used wit to claim the throne rather than force. He now eagerly rides on horseback to set an example and guide his viking army into the feudal age.

Riddere

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Though the Norseman's horse has always been the longship, he now seeks to match his prowess against his peers of the continent and their shock cavalry.

Knekts

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According to modern scholars, the key to a Norwegian success in the 13th century was the combined arms of the Norwegian fleet, stone walls and German mercenaries. Ruthlessly efficient, yet they pay a heavy price for their services.

Table Men

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During the Battle of Fimreite in 1184, most of the aristocrats died in a massive sea battle. The power vacuum that has been carved out over a 100 years of Norwegian civil war now comes to an end and fresh blood are eager to take their rightful place among the elite. While the Tablemen may pass as servants of the king's table, these ambitious warrior elite very soon found themselves among the Hirdleaders (Hirðstjórar), alongside Barons. According to the documents, they trained twice per day, with both shield and bucklers, preferring both breastplates (brjóstbjörg) or blackened gambeson.

Candle Men

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The Candlemen (Kertilsveinr) make up the nobles in training and gentry of the Norwegian Hird. In true Norse fashion, they fight on foot and use the spear to ward of any brave southerners who dare to ride on horseback.

Guests

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As the saying Nomen est Omen, "There are certain other housecarles at the King's court, who, in addition to the Hird's title, have a by-name and are called Guests. They have this name from their manifold duties; for they visit the homes of many, though not always with friendly intent." -Introduction to the Guest corporation, King's Mirror, 1250 AD. Although of the common man, these elite warriors lead their own independent corporation under a black banner and have their own ship, always sailing next to the king's ship while keeping a watchful eye. "they serve as spies throughout the king's domain to make sure whether he has any enemies in his kingdom; and if such are found, the guests are to slay them."

Crossbow Hirdmen

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"Hirdman means the same as keeper and guardian; and those who wish to possess this title rightfully should be true keepers and guardians both of the King's person and of all his kingship." The backbone of the Norwegian armed forces consisted of a sturdy shield wall of Hirdmen. These lesser nobles fight with a laminated shield and armoured in good mail. Although, as a seaborn people from the far north they often preferred the blackened gambeson.

Unlike many aristocrats, the Norse trained and owned ranged weapons.


Hirdmen

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"Hirdman means the same as keeper and guardian; and those who wish to possess this title rightfully should be true keepers and guardians both of the King's person and of all his kingship." The backbone of the Norwegian armed forces consisted of a sturdy shield wall of Hirdmen. These lesser nobles fight with a laminated shield and armoured in good mail. Although, as a seaborn people from the far north they often preferred the blackened gambeson.


Orkney Islanders

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Just like the Normans, the Jomsvikings and the Kievian-Norsemen, the men of the Earldom of Orkney are the direct decedents of the old vikings who've settled and formed their own lordship far from home. Unlike the others, these still follow the call of the old kingdom when whenever the horde is assembled. They use the Sami-inspired composite bows (tovedsbue) to great effect.


Atgeir Bondir

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Longbow Bondir

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Bondir

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Spear Bondir

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Tier 2

King

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Riddere

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Knekts

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Foot Riddere

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Vaepnere

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Crossbow Vaepnere

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Landevern

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Crossbow Oppbud

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Orkney Islanders

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Atgeir Bondir

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Crossbow Bondir

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Bondir

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Bow Bondir

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Hanseatic League

Hanse Lance

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Hanse Infantry

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[Lucem Mundum]

Yay!

[Vonchiefer]

Fantastic work as always. Also will Norway be starting as a horde faction? And if so, where do they start?

[Commissar Caligula_]

Fantastic work as always. Also will Norway be starting as a horde faction? And if so, where do they start?

I've got no idea how old this map is, but looks like there'll be an army at sea just off the coast of Sweden, and one on Sweden's land itself.
http://i.imgur.com/bbgXXTY.jpg

Also, great Runescape profile pic lols.

[Vonchiefer]

Thank you, my good man

[Visarion]

It s on the map... yes...

[Ghibellino]

Beautiful work!

[Linke]

fantastic units, I trust Sweden has acces to Hansestic mercenaries. Without their support Sweden might still have been a danish fief.

[Dom1no]

Fantastic job Sly! Will this faction be included in this upcoming update?

[Slytacular]

Yeah they'll be in the next update.

@Linke, I might revamp Sweden's roster this December. Can you add me on Steam so I can crank out some proper troops?

[Filips Augustus]

Looking great Sly nice job!

[FrozenmenSS]

gj Sly

[The_Fawn_Rescuer]

truly your best work thus far, Sly. These units look amazing. You've really captured the 'northern medieval' look with these units. Excellent job

[Gongo80]

sir, you're an artist

[Kjertesvein]

And if so, where do they start?

Caligula the Mad have already posted the map, which are based on the south eastern areas in Medieval Norway and the coast of Norway. While it's probably not going to happen, the modders can also add the Norse Vassals (Orkney Islanders) around Scotland if they feel it adds something to the game play experience. This is also the same basis for Creative Assembly's Britannia Expansion.

Personally though, I will probably take the fleet on a nice "vacation" to the south. To paraphrase Pål Svenungsen's Ma (p.101-2) the King made a lot of crusader preparations during the early 13th century. While empty crusading promises were nothing new among the European royalty (a source of credibility), the Pope believed Haakon to such an extent that he granted the King 5% of the Norwegian Church's yearly income for whole 3 years. The french king became familiar with the Pope's conviction and sent his messenger, Mathew of Paris to the Norwegian court. Here he promised the Norwegian King the leadership of the whole French fleet and that the French army would have to obey him. King Haakon main reason for refusal was supposedly because of the contradictory nature between Frenchmen and Norwegians, as King Haakon feared it could lead to irreparable damage along the way. He was however more pleased with the second proposal which allowed the Norwegians to freely resupply in France (Chronica Majora, IV: 651-2) Nothing ever came of this, although it's speculated that individual Norsemen might've taken the cross on their own, as we know they did during this period. Incidentally, Jean de Joinville speaks of the Flemish noble man Alenard of Senaingan, who spent time in Norway constructing and finally sailed to he holy land on a Norwegian ship. (The Life of Saint Louis: 289).

15th century

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Bondir and other non-aristocratic soldiers -- Outlined.

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There are a lot of terms used for the non-aristocratic soldiers in Norway, but there is a degree of standardization that I'll outline below.

• Bondir - Farmer, of varying degrees of income. Sometimes during the 15th century we see Allmuen ('Commoners') seem to be used during 15th century. Landbo,landbole and similar terms is used to refer to tenant farmers at this point. Commoners and tenant farmers refer to two distinct groups.
• Leidang - The organisation. Sometimes used for the group who travelled abroad on the offensive.
• Oppbud - Also known as folkeoppbud and bondeoppbud, or Landevern ('Peoples levy', 'Bondir levy', or 'Home guard') It literally means 'to assemble' (armed soldiers), and are a terms for the organisation.
• Landeværn - Meaning 'Home guard', used for defense of the realm.
• Legd - A community of farms that is responsible for taxation, caring for the poor and arming/feeding soldiers. It was introduced to Denmark in the early 14th century, and introduced to Norway in the 16th century.
• Soldatlegd/Legdsoldater - Soldiers from a legd.
• Legdshær - Army, based on the Legd system.

Context:

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Leidang was a military organisation. It was divided into harbour communities, from all along the Norwegian coast (North way), where each skipreide (ship harbour) designated one or more ships of 100 or more men each. The organisation 'Leidang' seems to mean the farmers who would go out of the country, as in, on the offensive and invade. During the 1270s, an attempt is made to reform the Leidang in order to professionalize it (This is where we see heavy armour such as mail come in as a minimum for the wealthy). After the plague of the mid 14th century, which killed ~half of the population, the organisation begins to crumble. It's called out less and less. In 1370s, there was an attemot to reform the organisation into a legd system. It doesn't succeeded. During the 15th century, the levy was only called out a few times, while at the same time converted to a tax. In 1393, Queen Margaret of Kalmar used it against Hanse, levying Norwegians around Oslo area. During 1429, ships were called out from Bergen against the German pirates. A levy fleet of unknown size, but which included 4 large ships, commanded by local Stormenn ('Great Men') was called out. The fleet was defeated and the city was plundered. According to Olaus Magnus' story of Scandinavia, written in the early 16th century, Leidang ships were reported to still be in their nausts ('docks houses') across certain parts of Norway during ~mid 15th century.

The leader of a ship harbour and the ship was the Styrsmann (literally meaning 'control man' of the ship, but means Captain).

Each harbour also had a 'Beacon of Gondor'. Varde - A beacon that, according to 13th century law, is maintained by the ship harbour. Each beacon can be seen from two other beacons, and if I remember correct, is to stretch across the entire coast as a warning system. In the city laws, a guardhouse is also required along with a guard post. It was to be lit when 5 ships were seen on the horizon. The order is brought back in 1543, and in 1628, but were not maintained in practice during the 15th and 16th century. It seems to be used when war was expected. Simple wood beacon, added stone foundation and lastly a guard house of incremental level is one concepts that can be used for a Scandinavian building chain (if there is such a distinct thing), allowing for added militia capabilities (as an example).

It's my understanding that all these non-aristocratic forces consisted mainly of a defensive force (landeværn) and offensive force (leidang), probably of the more wealthy individuals. As I've stated before, the farmers were demanded gear according to rank. In 13th century law, they're divided into young, poor, average income and the wealthy. The young have limited gear, poor have bad equipment, wealthy have heavy armor for central areas of the body and the average income falls somewhere in between with equipment that will do the job and no more.

Roster, the armoured farmers and the militia, respectively.

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Oppbud Halberdiers (include 2 handed axes here)
Oppbud Crossbowmen (w/ swords and axes).
Oppbud Pikemen

Landvern 2 handed Axemen.
Landvern Pikesmen
Landvern Crossbowmen/Archers.

Oppbud refer to those you call up to fight. Landvern refer to the militia.

These are the inspirations for the Low tier units.

Swedish farmers vs german mercenaries

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https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...es_in_1501.jpg
http://kmb.raa.se/cocoon/bild/raa-im...4/normal/1.jpg

Here is a wargaming blog trying to recreate the battle: http://dalauppror.blogspot.no/2014/0...midsummer.html

1604 law

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The axes are used by all ranks in 1604, the more wealthy have ornaments over the their gear. http://imgur.com/a/rChFn
The weapons are fairly fluid. All ranks use all most types of weapons (except pikes). Mid to low tier prefer halberds. Low tier prefer pikes. All swords and axes refer to secondary weapons. All swords are low quality. Axes for high level are ornament. The higher ranking use longer range guns than the lower ranking.
Hirdman: Mid to high tier prefer ranged weapons.

1. Farmer aristocrats. (Light regular infantry)
Better Crossbow, sword and axe.
2. Tenant farmer (Landeværn)
Better Crossbow
3. Third farm
Crossbow, axe.
4. Fourth farm
Halberd, sword
5. Derelict Farm
Halberd, sword
6. Crofter
Halberd, axe.
7. Fisher, transporter, craftsman, etc. of poor wealth.
Better Crossbow and accessories, sword.
8. Poor
Halberd and sword, or spear and sword.
9. Young man.
Spear and sword.
10. Half wage.
Spear and hand-axe.

https://snl.no/Norsk_forsvarshistorie
https://lokalhistoriewiki.no/index.php/Leksikon:Oppbud
https://lokalhistoriewiki.no/index.p...ikon:Skipreide
https://lokalhistoriewiki.no/index.php/Leksikon:Vete

Aristocrats, mainly 15th century

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Kalmar Union means that the king is no longer in Norway, but in 1212 I suppose that isn't going to be the case.

'Norse War Clerics', actually a legitimate prospect.

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One unit to represent the Arch-Bishop and his 120 men. Coat of Arms, original.
Another limited unit, kinda like you limit the Guests, of the retinue of the Bishops.

Context:
The king no longer resided in Norway, but instead in Copenhagen. Therefor, military commanders of castles were increasingly of Danish or German origin. This was done to limit the impact of unrest in the country. The social structure of the 3 kingdoms continued uninterrupted as distinct entities internally, each lead by their respective Council of the Realm. In Norway, ever since the plague, this was dominated by the Church of Norway, which means the Arch-Bishop of Norway.

The Arch-Bishop was the most powerful individual in Norway during the 15th century and only next in line to the King. De fact he acts as head of state. The Archdiocese of Nidaros encompassed all over Norway, Greenland, Iceland, Mann, Inner and Outer Hebredies, Orkney and all the other Norse isles. While the Hebridies and Mann no longer served the crown, the people often cited aincent Norse laws and came to The Arch-Bishop to solve civil strife, uninterrupted.

The first half of the 15th century was marked by hostility towards foreigners and general unrest within the Kalmar Union. The Archbishop of Norway demanded the right to hold a hird of his own, pointing to the 1277 agreement between church and crown.

From ~mid 15th century, the church managed to negotiate their right to hold their own professional forces. Most of these men were nobles, but also other clerics had a cloer client relationship with the Arch-Bishop, than priests in general. The Arch-Bishops right to hold his own retinue were regulated in the 1277 accord. All the church men were exempt from serving the king, and many other privileges. Among these was the privilegie to hold their own retinue. The Arch-Bishop was allowed to 100/120 men. The Bishops were allowed a retinue of 40 each. Their men were called sveiner (svein same as 'svenner', meaning soldiers). Throughout the middle ages, serving the Arch-Bishop was a natural career choice for many young Norwegian Nobles. Specially among the low nobility, streaming in from all over the country. From mid-15th century, the ArchBishops residence, which is also a castle, becomes further developed with modern castle designs into 1510, while other other men reside in the castle in Bergen.

Textile dated to late medieval period. While these were probably civilian, the pattern can help illustrate.
http://digitaltmuseum.no/01106240913...r=1300&pos=113
http://digitaltmuseum.no/01106240368...ar=1300&pos=32

Vaepnere, used during the 15th century to refer to the nobles. Riddere was the highest.

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Men-at-arms level.
http://i.imgur.com/EvnOPsR.png?1


Context:

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Av Våpen (of weapons) and Væpner are common (Armiger was also common, but such terms was limited for written documents). It simply means 'Armed', or 'someone who works with weapons'. The term was initially used to refer to squires, but at this point the term refer to any man of low nobility that has jet to be knights, regardless of age. Another term was riddermannsmann (literally meaning 'Knightman's man', I know). If you wanted to simplify the pronounciation of Vaepnere, you could construct a new historical word. One example would be 'Armed Norse Infantry', Armed Norse Horsemen, etc. You're the american so it's up to you.

http://www.genealogi.no/mediawiki/in...g_tjenestemann
http://www.vigerust.net/tore/adel/adelhovedindex.html

Vaepnere in Scotland. 1538.

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From my understanding a dispute over a will which include some Vaepnere in Scotland.
http://www.dokpro.uio.no/perl/middel...=2250&s=n&str=

Riddere or other mounted men-at-arms

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For the simplicity of this mod, I suggest Riddere on horse and Vaepnere on foot.

Wearing extensive armour, late 15th century.
http://i.imgur.com/1g98gDW.jpg

The horses of late period seem to have this "net". The prominant individuals have weights hanging down, strapped over their horse. I'm not sure if the things having down were used in battle or parade.
http://i.imgur.com/ECCPsuP.png
http://i.imgur.com/v7QrbO8g.png
http://i.imgur.com/pcmNas6.png (unknown date)
http://i.imgur.com/WfWUq2h.png (different variation, mounted crossbows)
http://i.imgur.com/zCrUD2V.jpg (late 14th century)
http://i.imgur.com/3TzLn8Q.jpg (late 14th century)

Tier 3 aristicrats

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King of Norway/King's Riddere. Mounted. Norwegian style.

Archbishop's Guard. Hand pavises and maces. Possibly give the archbishop a big sword/Halberd. This sword is from the same time period and location that was under the Archbishop's control. It's possible he (or one of his men) were associated with this sword. We don't know for certain: http://www.unimus.no/arkeologi/#/det...?search=T17729

Bishop's Armed Retinue (function as mounted men at arms, but with Scandinavian style. Lance, Sword and cavalry Targe.)

Lübecker Guard.

German Knekts (Late) Generic German Mercenary unit, should be recruited among all Scandinavian factions.

Vaepnere. (Functioning as Men-at-arms, halberdiers)

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Norwegian style:

Scarlet red surcoats with white fur and scarlet capes on several high nobility.
Gilding on knees and some other areas.
One church related art work contain what appear to be a black armour.
Sallet, full plate

Scandianvian style:
V-shaped opening in the textile over the breastplate.
http://i.imgur.com/bEpWnd4.png
http://i.imgur.com/gbIjWgU.png
Sallet, low hanging kettle hats.

Horses don't use textile cover barding in late period, they have a 'fish net'

Hanseatic roster

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High level Militia, possibly a marine militia.

coat of arms

Lübecker Guard (High) or (Late), limited number. The Lübeck Guard were men who jealously guarded the League's trade secrets and the 'German section' ('Kontor') of a major Hanseatuc League town. Unlike Italian Merchant Associations, these northern guilds were highly competative within their own markets and rules were strickt. Initiation process for an Apprentice to become a Hanse merchant sent you through a gruling process in which you were almost drowned and burnt over fire, creating a strong bond between it's members. In Norway, the Lübeck Guard guarded the compound the massive Cod Fish trade based in Bergen, but stretched it's arm from Finnmark to Greenland, a major source of food for Europe. Spears (and pavises for war?), polearms or 2 handed axes were common weapons of guards, but swords, bucklers and crossbows are also fine. This is a Late period unit, then this can very well be Norway's gunpowder unit.
https://youtu.be/UV51rAFqiLE?t=41m15s

Links to relevant stuff
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...1#post15086685
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...1#post15152932
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...1#post15164621

~Wille

[StephenCZ]

Very, very nice work. It is a pity that proper Norway cannot be on the map.

[Night_Hunter]

Hello Firstly I want to thank you Slytacular for the great and stunning work you have done for Noreway and also for Kingdom of Sweden. Both factions look truly spectacular and it is obvious that you put a lot of care also in making rosters for them. I am o big fun of your work and can not wait to see any new progress
I dare to have a small suggestion. Recently a roster for Kingdom of Jerusalem and Cyprus was updated and I found there a unit with this description:

Crusader Northmen
Remnants of the paltry Scandinavian expedition which was to set out with King Inge II of Norway. He died before leaving, so not many of his men ended up going to the Holy Land. This is an axe unit who use their long Daneaxes to great effect.

It is a heavy two-handed axe unit from tier 1. And I was wondering whether it would be a bad idea to have some equal unit in the roster of Norway. Two handed axe may seem to be a little bit oldfashioned in 1212 but I think that in Norway - homeland of wikings it may still have its place and a heavy shock infatry unit may be truly useful for their commanders...

[Påsan]

Norwegian Foot Knights need a buff, the foot general need a huge buff and some of the atgeir units never get a single kill vs anything.

The Foot Knights come at a huge price (men at arms price) and preform worse than similarly armed high units that cost 2/3 as much. The foot general have the same stats but with less men in the unit (what? Why?) And they cost the same.

I really dont see the point of having under strenght general-units. Its completely contradictary to reason why a infantry unit with a king in it would have less men. If anything they should have more men considering the super-powered general units other factions have. (And its the goddamn king/general, he should be well guarded)

So dismounted norwegian knights, buff the stats or reduce the price and give the king a propper bodyguard.

That said the rooster is great and a few units are spectacular.

[chleader]

Norwegian Foot Knights need a buff, the foot general need a huge buff and some of the atgeir units never get a single kill vs anything.

The Foot Knights come at a huge price (men at arms price) and preform worse than similarly armed high units that cost 2/3 as much. The foot general have the same stats but with less men in the unit (what? Why?) And they cost the same.

I really dont see the point of having under strenght general-units. Its completely contradictary to reason why a infantry unit with a king in it would have less men. If anything they should have more men considering the super-powered general units other factions have. (And its the goddamn king/general, he should be well guarded)

So dismounted norwegian knights, buff the stats or reduce the price and give the king a propper bodyguard.

That said the rooster is great and a few units are spectacular.

Totally agree on that, should make norway better and make norwegian armies more varied. Plus, foot riddere look sick

[Kjertesvein]

Referring to some posts made in the 2D Art Preview Thread, #563 and #576.

From where did you get those titles? Bondir is most likely the same as bønder, which means peasants. And usually peasants during medieval times undoubtedly didn't have money enough to make or buy themselves armor. Vaepnere must be the same as väpnere, which is squire, and as far as I know squires were no units fighting under a lord but young men who helped knights with the hope to one day become knights themselves. Instead of bondir you should call them skytter (bueskytter for longbow archer and armbrøstskytte for crossbow archer). The Norwegian word oppbud as in the mod's "Crossbow Oppbud" is, as far as my knowledge of Norwegian allows me to understand, connected to going into bankruptcy and not to shooting arrows.

But if bondir, vaepnere and oppbud sound exotic you are of course by all means welcome to use them any way you want.

The names such as Bondir and Vaepnere are chosen because the majority of the audience of this mod are not able to pronounce Scandinavian letters such as ø, æ, å, ö, etc. Therefor, the intention is that unit names ought to be pronounced in English. There may come a time when a submod is created which include native languages for MKTW units...

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Norwegian and Swedish peasants were not the kind of annoying peasant you see in Monty Python. They consisted of people from the low levels in the hierarchy (Leilendinger, tenants), to high level farmers (Haulr, Odel/bördsrätt farmers). The more well-off peasants in Norway were according to law, required to bring: spear, iron helmet, shield, mail and sword -- the standard equipment for most 13th century heavy infantry anywhere else in Europe. They were also required to organize and maintain massive ships full of warriors. These ships would equate to, with today's money, ~2 mansions in the most expensive part of a Europeans city today. That's a huge amount of money. Ergo, Scandinavian peasants were not one class, as is often portrayed in movies, but included sub class' with significant disparity in wealth and influence.

By the end of the medieval period, in Denmark, the situation was a fairly similar to the rest of the continent, the majority of the peasants were tenants. In Sweden the peasants were major landholders, free farmers, throughout the whole medieval period. Norway was somewhere in between, with peasants being major landholders in Telemark and Aust-Agder, although the church held an unusual position as being the major landowner in Norway as a whole during the 15th century.

Oppbud means 'call up', as in the 'mustering' of armed men for war. During the high medieval period in Norway, when war was on the horizon, the king would send letters of Oppbud to the regions across the kingdom. Here he would order all provisions to be ready, half of the able bodied men and all the professional forces to make haste towards the capital. The word Oppbud is chosen to represent the average Norwegian soldier of a non-aristocratic background.

The term Væpner comes from the meaning 'of arms'. It's equivalent to the term Armiger, one who can legally bear a heraldic display of (coat of) arms,and they're used interchangeably. It's correct that during the early period, Væpnere were squires. By the later period, Væpnere would denote any man who had jet to be knighted, regardless of age. In the whole 15 the century Norway, there were only a handful of knights.

Norway Didn't have the myriad of noble titles. You had Ridder as the higher and Væpner as the lower, no other.

A note on Norwegian social titles during Later periods.

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There were variety when it came to social titles among the Norwegian nobility. Some examples of the title equating to Vaepner.

Væpner
Van wapen
Á vàpn
Aff vapen
Armiger ('of arms', a bearer of coats of arms.)
Riddermandtsmann, 'Knight-man's man'.

There were also a host of other interchangeable titles

Adel ('noble', used in Norway from the 1530s. It was used in Denmark and Sweden after the Spring of 1523.), Edel ('noble'), Fri ('free'), Frelse ('free' from taxes), Byrd (of 'ancestral' lineage), Dannet (of courtly origin, therefor 'well mannered'), Fornumstig/Hederlig ('honorable'), Ærlig/Velbyrdig ('honorable'/'ancestral'). Herr or Streng Herr ('Lord').

http://www.vigerust.net/tore/adel/adelhovedindex.html

~Wille