Re: [RPHS] Age of Crusades - 1105AD
Crown prince Louis was upset at the news , that the English where leaving Normandy, as at least they could deal and negotiate with the English leaders but with the withdrawal of there forces from French lands and the arrival of Robert Curthose , who had returned from the first crusade , sort-out his fathers lands , in the dukedom of Normandy and was dully given them by Henry , the current head of the english state, and with him there would be no negotiation. If Robert had even a tenth of the ambition of his forefathers, then there would be trouble again between Normandy and the French lands, which was particularly annoying after the trouble they had in getting the anglo-normans to agree to a treaty after the last war with William.
"Ô Dieu vivant! Normans, but bastard Normans, Norman bastards! Mort de ma vie, let them fall , on there march to the coast, for I fear them not!", spoke prince Louis annoyed at the massive army of norman troops assembled in a nearby fort , ready to claim there prize.
"It seems mon Seigneur, that the french crown has the second largest army in the kingdom " , replied the constable of France, Alberic.
"I can make adjustments to that fact, constable , ...if needs must" , replied Louis , but he knew the normans couldn't field such strength for long , and after they took possession of there territory , they would surely disband , a fair proportion of there armies ,leaving him with the mightiest strength in all of france.
The Normans had always been a pain , for France , since the days , there viking descendants had plagued the Seine river , pillagering Cities , in there lust for wealth. It was in such times , when one of those fierce warriors , a certain Rollo had been convinced to stay and settle , down with his warband , and thus he would be used as a bulwark against his own people . The deal was a very good one for the French , who not in control of the province of Brittany [indeed they where trying to take the land, from the rather independent , peoples who still fought to keep themselves free from the French crown] gave the rights for the vikings to own it. Things started on bad terms , when the french king , asked the viking , Rollo to kiss the royal foot as a sign of submission , but after the translation was given to Rollo he laughed and asked another viking to do so. The viking approached the king , grabbing his foot upending the French king, as he hefted the royal foot into the air, so he could kiss it , whilst fully standing up , whilst unfortunately dragging the French king in the mud, headfirst.
Things had always gone wrong , after that as the vikings rapidly took the territory , and where found to be always out of control , always doing there own thing , usually against the interest of the crown.
But the French prince had little time to worry over the normans, as had a bigger foe to face in his marriage . His first wife was to be, Lucienne de Rochefort . Lucienne was the daughter of Guy II the Red de Montlhéry ,Count of Rochefort-en-Yvelines and also Sénéchal de France [Seneschal of France] . It was purely a political marriage , thought to be designed by the current queen , Bertrade de Montfort and some feared her schemes had other purposes, but she was still the queen , and he had little choice in the matter.
At one of the many custom checks, ,a English merchant by the name of Alfred , had been stopped and his luggage been checked for stolen goods. The check had been ordered in the name of France's spymaster , who stood overseeing the checks as they took place , content in the fact , they had little to stop the English agent at this time . His passport had been checked and all other things were in order ,but the French spymaster, knew he had seen the wiry fellow before, back in England and was sure he was spying for the English state.
Eventually , when the English merchant had been shook down , he was allowed to pass and the French spymaster began to write a note to the French king, reminding him , that there was English spies adrift within his domain , and he had only to say the word , and he could make a little "accident" to occur , which would solve all their problems..
---------------
In a fort which was situated between Bordeaux and Toulouse lay the castle of one of the "robber barons" who was named Guilhelm of Aquitaine . He continued to rule in his own name and had recruited a sizeable garrison force, from which he ruled the local countryside. That night , three cloaked individuals crouched close to the fire inside the fort ,and observed the patterns in the guard shift which oversaw the great gate to the fortress. The three men looked at each other and spoke in low whispers, as they planned for the future, as it was not possible to open the gates this night , but perhaps some powder could be obtained , to be slipped into the guards dinner for another nights watch, so that they could get to open the gate , unimpeded.
In the night sky , a small white shape with a tail behind it , spend across the night sky , and the three spys sat and looked in wonder at the sight , wondering what this sign from God , meant to them , being just mere mortals , perhaps it meant of great change to arrive ?
--------------------------
[Coat of arms for the Counts of Toulouse]
Betrand of Toulouse , was in a state of great anxiety , as he prepared his men for the attack on the robber barons fort .He had "secured" some of the men of the town ,to be recruited as spear miltia ,and they where currently receiving some basic training , much to the amusement of the armoured spearmen , who being regular troops , enjoyed the sight of the townsmen, as they dropped weapons , or moved the wrong way during the drill they received. To some degree , Betrand , wanted a oppurnity to destroy the nearby rebels , and to perform great feats , so he could stand high against the deeds of his much more famous father , Raymond IV of Toulouse. His father had only just recently died, and that had elevated him to become the actual Count of Toulouse , and as such the constable had promised him , more troops with the promise of him , removing "Guilhelm of Aquitaine" from french lands. Preparations were nearing completion for the attack , and he looked back in memory at the deeds his father had accomplished..
[pic of raymond IV of Toulouse]
Raymond of Toulouse , was one of the most important leaders of the First crusade and one of the most religious [at least in his opinion], being one of the first to take the cross . He is sometimes called "the one-eyed" [or Raymond of Tripoli later] after a rumour that he had lost an eye in a scuffle with the doorkeeper of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre during an earlier pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Raymond left Toulouse at the end of October 1096, with a large company that included his wife Elvira, his infant son ("are we there yet?"-who would die on the journey) and Adhemar, bishop of Le Puy, the papal legate. . At the end of April 1097, he was the only crusade leader not to swear an oath of fealty to Byzantine emperor Alexius I.
Fighting most of the route to Jerusalem , in the sieges of Antioch ,siege of Nicaea and the Battle of Dorylaeum. The siege of Arqa, a town outside Tripoli, lasted longer than Raymond had hoped. Although he successfully captured Hisn al-Akrad, a fortress that would later become the important Krak des Chevaliers, his insistence on taking Tripoli delayed the march to Jerusalem, and he lost much of the support he had gained after Antioch. Raymond finally agreed to continue the march to Jerusalem on 13 May, and after months of siege the city was captured on 15 July. Raymond was offered the crown of the new Kingdom of Jerusalem, but refused, as he was reluctant to rule in the city in which Jesus had suffered. He said that he shuddered to think of being called "King of Jerusalem". It is also likely that he wished to continue the siege of Tripoli rather than remain in Jerusalem.
Raymond then took part in the "Crusade of the Faint-Hearted" due to the number of participants who joined this crusade after having turned back from the First Crusade.
In September 1100, a large group of Lombards left from Milan. These were mostly untrained peasants, led by Anselm IV, Archbishop of Milan. When they reached the territory of the Byzantine Empire, they pillaged it recklessly [sighs , these western barbarians], and Byzantine emperor Alexios I escorted them to a camp outside Constantinople. This did not satisfy them, and they made their way inside the city where they pillaged the Blachernae palace, even killing Alexios' pet lion[i keep telling you, these westerners are barbarians]. The Lombards were quickly [get 'em out of 'er!]ferried across the Bosporus and made their camp at Nicomedia, to wait for reinforcements.
At Nicomedia they were joined in May 1101 by a smaller but stronger contingent of French, Burgundians, and Germans, under Stephen of Blois, Stephen I, Count of Burgundy, Eudes I, Duke of Burgundy, and Conrad, constable of Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor. Joining them at Nicomedia was Raymond IV of Toulouse, one of the leaders of the First Crusade who was now in the service of the emperor. He was appointed overall leader, and a Byzantine force of Pecheneg mercenaries was sent out with them under the command of General Tzitas. This group marched out at the end of May, towards Dorylaeum, following the route taken by Raymond and Stephen in 1097 during the First Crusade. They planned to continue towards Konya, but the Lombards, whose rabble outnumbered all the other contingents, were determined to march north to Niksar where Bohemond I of Antioch was being held captive by the Danishmends. After capturing Ancyra on June 23, 1101, and returning it to Alexios, the crusaders turned north. They briefly besieged the heavily garrisoned city of Gangra, and then continued north to attempt to capture the Turkish-controlled city of Kastamonu. However, they came under attack from the Seljuq Turks who harassed them for weeks, and a foraging party was destroyed in July.
At this point, under the threats of the Lombards, the entire army turned away from the possible safety of the Black Sea coast and again moved east, toward Danishmend territory and the rescue of Bohemond. However, the Seljuqs, under Kilij Arslan I, realizing that disunity was the cause of their inability to stop the First Crusade, had now allied with both the Danishmends and Ridwan of Aleppo. In early August the crusaders met this combined Muslim army at Mersivan.
The battle took place over several days. On the first day, the Turks cut off the crusading armies’ advances and surrounded them. The next day, Duke Conrad led his Germans in a raid that failed miserably. Not only did they fail to open the Turkish lines, they were unable to return to the main crusader army and had to take refuge in a nearby stronghold. This meant that they were cut off from supplies, aid, and communication for an attack that may have taken place had the Germans been able to provide their own military strength.
The third day was somewhat quiet, with little or no serious fighting taking place, but on the fourth day, the crusaders made an intensive effort to free themselves from the trap that they were in. The crusaders inflicted heavy losses on the Turks, but the attack was a failure by the end of the day. Kilij Arslan was joined by Ridwan of Aleppo and other powerful Danishmend princes.
The Lombards, in the vanguard, were defeated, the Pechenegs deserted, and the French and Germans were also forced to fall back. Raymond was trapped on a rock and was rescued by Stephen and Conrad. The battle continued into the next day, when the crusader camp was captured and the knights fled, leaving women, children, and priests behind to be killed or enslaved. Most of the Lombards, who had no horses, were soon found and killed or enslaved by the Turks.
[as a backstory, Bohemond of Antioch, who the lombards where trying to rescue , had a interested tale to finish the story,Bohemund who took and held antioch , although it was intially promised to Alexius [Bzantine emperor] who didnt forget his transgresssion. So the emperor offered 260,000 dinars, if Ghazi Gumushtakin [Emir] would hand the prisoner over to Byzantium. When Kilij Arslan I, the Seljuk overlord of the Emir, heard of the proposed payment threatened to attack [Bzyantine Empire] unless given half the ransom. Bohemond proposed instead a ransom of 130,000 dinars paid just to the Emir. The bargain was concluded, and Ghazi and Bohemond exchanged oaths of friendship. Ransomed by Baldwin of Edessa, he returned in triumph to Antioch in August 1103.So he didn't need rescuing after all.....
Turn to the holy roman emperor
https://www.dropbox.com/s/rwgue6e9zl...anE_2.sav?dl=0
