3. The First Year

Welcome back to the Welf Chronicles

In this Crusader Kings 2 chronicle, we are following the exploits of Count Konrad Welf of Troyes and his descendants.

If you are new to the series, it starts with 1. Introduction

Last time (2. Strategic Overview), we finished up initial setup by arranging marriages and giving tasks to council members. This time, it's time to start the clock!

12th of January, 867:
The young Irish scullery maid Ben-Muman arrived at my court and our marriage was completed with all due fanfare. I decided to ask my generous vassals to help pay for the celebrations. Over the following week, several of my courtiers, including brother Rudolf, also entered into their matrimontial bonds. I also decided to work towards improving my Martial skill.

The choice is between prestige and cash, and while we currently have negative prestige from marrying a commoner, we still need the cash more at the moment. After completing the Marriage ambition, I decided that Martial skill was the most critical next ambition.

19th of January, 867:
My liege, King Charles the Bald, sends a letter detailing some governmental reforms he wants to institute and ask my opinion. Honored at being asked, I agree to his request, despite it not being in my own immediate interest.

Crown Authority is generally something we want low as a vassal and high as a liege. As we want to rise to the top at some point, and since Crown Authority takes a LONG time to increase, we don't mind having it slightly up at this point. This can also help to protect us from larger co-vassals.

9th of February, 867:
News reaches the County of Troyes that the saracens of Iberia has declared a holy war, a 'Jihad', as they call it, on the duchy of Barcelona. King Charles has accepted a call to arms from his son, Louis the Stammerer, who rules Aquitaine. Levies of the entire kingdom of West Frankia are immediately raised and converge on Paris. I personally lead the contingent from the counties of Troyes and Sens.

23th of Febrauary, 867:
As the royal army converges on Paris, a decree proclaims that after consulting the greatest magnates of West Frankia, the king has set up a new process is set up for dealing with treasonous subjects, including the possibility of legal attainder.

This was the Crown Authority change mentioned earlier, which now allows the king an option to confiscate land from a vassal. What is Attainder?

11th of March, 867:
Duke Hugo of Anjou, my powerful cousin, tells me in a private letter that he believes West Frankia would be better governed by combining the crowns of West and East Frankia and letting the current king of East Frankia rule over the entire Karling empire as the great Charlemagne once did. I take note of the notion, but do not commit one way or the other.

Hugo probably thinks that he can achieve his ends much better with a distant king ruling from Germany, rather than one centered right on the borders of Anjou. It is going to be hard to carve out a slice of the Carolingian empire with one ruler, and I am a little concerned about dukes like Hugo having too much power in such a constallation.

23th of April, 867:
The royal host is finally gathered in Paris, and when we move south out of the capital, I am given the honor of leading one of the wings of the army, despite my less than stellar military experience.

17th of May, 867:
It seems King Charles has had a change of plans and that he wants to take the army south to fight the infidels lodged in the southern Italian peninsula. While a less glorious assignment, it does let me visit Troyes as we march by.

Once there, I am greeted by my new wife Ben-Muman, and the tenderness and joy which she recieves me with, act as a mighty blast of wind on the smouldering love already between us. After a passionate night spent in each others company, we lie entangled, and in whisper, we swear a solemn vow of love for each other, with no witness other than God Almighty.

Getting this event is fantastic news. Other than the enormous boost in relation to one another, it should also increase our chance of procreating. Also, kinda cute.

9th of July, 867:
On the way down the Italian peninsula, a letter from Cousin Hugo reaches me. One of his vassals has rebelled against his authority and he requests the might of the County of Troyes to support him. I send instructions back to Troyes to raise the levy immediately.

I don't really need to do anything here other than agree to join, but helping out might get me some prestige or cash if I manage to capture one of the rebels, and I don't really have anything better to do with my troops at the moment.

3rd of November, 867:
After settling into the siege lines at Bari, I recieved news that my forces assisting Duke Hugo have chased a rebel army up into Normandy and finally cornered them at Aumale. Outnumbering them two to one, they were killed almost to a man, losing only 60 of our own.

We also managed to capture the skilled knight Geoffery de Montsureau, who was immediately sent to the dungeons of Troyes.

Dear Geoffrey is unfortunately not worth anything to his liege, but at least we tried.

13th of November, 867:
A joyeous letter reached me that dearest Ben-Muman is pregnant with our first child. If he inherits even half the brains of his mother, he is going to accomplish great things!

Of course we don't know yet if the child is a boy or a girl, but Konrad would probably engage in a little wishful thinking of the patriarcal variety here.

29th of December, 867:
As we celebrate Christ mass in the siege camps outside Bari, I have just recieved word that the rest of my forces in Normandy have joined the siege of the rebel stronghold of Angers.



That's it for the first year. Come back next time for the expansion of the Welf dynasty and more power struggles in West Frankia and the Counties of Troyes and Sens! Now available: 4. War Never Changes