picnomad.blogg.se

• Crusader kings 2 plus roman provinces series#

Crusader kings 2 plus roman provinces series#

In practice, what it amounted to was a series of spurious claims to Provence, Armagnac, Bordeaux and the Prince-Bishopric of Agen, rapidly assembled over a period of a decade by the incredible hustle and diligence of the realm's chancellor, Duke Gararic of Bourbon. The document claimed that during the booting of the Muslims from Septimania, Pepin the Short had granted certain Gothic families rule over certain cities and keeps in perpetuity. I'm actually about seven kings in and have a bunch of these written up. Two years later, Gundemar passed away in his sleep and left everything to his only son, Gundemar II - a less militarily able but more patient man with a better eye for dealing politely with his vassals. The decree of kingship was ignored in the west, where the Basque landlords of Dax and Armagnac continued to acknowledge Karloman II as their suzerain, as did the Count of Limousin. A stout war ensued over the next three years as Occitan and Visigothic men-at-arms routed the Franks in a series of running battles along the Garonne, then stormed the gates of Paris and sacked the city, forcing Karloman to acknowledge Gundemar as King of Aquitaine.

The period of peace did not last long: Dissatisfied with Karloman II, Gundemar and several nobles in the south of Francia moved to recognize Gundemar himself as the rightful lord over Aquitaine and Vasconia. Gundemar, at that point serving as the marshal of the Frankish armies, administered the defense of the Frisian coast against invading Norsemen under Hogni of Sweden, then turned back the raids of the Viking Oddr against Normandy. This left Karloman's 13-year-old son, Karloman II, on the throne in his infancy. Karloman outlived his brother by just seven more years before being struck down in 804 by Viking raiders under Ragnarr of Helsingland. Shortly thereafter, the Francias came under the unified rule of Karloman after the king of West Francia, Charles the Tormentor, died without male heir, brought low by severe stress. It can be said that Gundemar's court was one of the earliest melting pots in which formed the culture that would be called Occitan. Through the 790s, Gundemar extended his reach steadily, claiming lordship over Venaissin and Gevaudan and extending protection to the Bishop of Vivarais, then wresting the County of Foix from the rebel Peranudet. In recognition of Guillaume's supreme martial account, he released him from the gaol and gave him command of an army, but eventually grew tired of his scheming and drove him from his lands altogether Guillaume would eventually resurface as Count of Burgundy. In 784, with Guillaume falling prisoner to Gundemar's forces, Gundemar crowned himself Marquis of Gothia and Count of Toulouse. With the consent of the church he established himself as the Count of Roussillon, and while Guillaume was still de jure overlord of the Marca Gothica, the nobles there de facto owed their allegiance to Gundemar.ĭriven by the schemes of his nobles to support his claim to the Gothic March, and with the support of several bishops, Gundemar declared that Toulouse was by right a part of Gothia, and he marched on Toulouse with 2,000 men, besting the armies of Guillaume in the field. By the time he was finished, he was more influential in the region than his own overlord.

Over the next decade, Gundemar extended his formidable reputation and protection to the cities of Narbonne and Maguelone. His campaign began in 771, when Carcassonne came under his influence. Discontent with the Frankish dominion over the lands he felt rightfully belonged to his people, he set to work expanding his control over the coast. Started off in 769 by knocking off an ahistorical character and starting as a Visigothic lord named Gundemar, Count of Roussillon in-game but Lord of Perpenya in-character.Ī brilliant strategist and a man of towering ambition and anger, Gundemar was never fond of his nominal liege of lieges, King Karloman of Middle Francia, nor of his liege-lord, one Guillaume the Cruel, set in Toulouse as Duke over that city and Marquis of Gothia, with reign over all of Septimania. I've been writing this run as a short timeline.