England, one kingdom, 3 players, one AAR

This campaign is a PBeM campaign that is still in progress, there are 3 players of various quality. we play 1 year/turn and have a few other special rules, i will not bore you with them, this is our writeup thus far, the different styles are due to different authors for each reign

William The Conqueror 1066-1102

With the conquest of England, and the subjugation of the Saxons achieved, William set his eyes on securing his rule and establishing England as a force to be reckoned with. The main obstacle that would be in his way was the kingdom of France, so he arranged an alliance between the two nations, securing it by a marriage between his eldest son, Prince Rufus and the French Princess Constance.

With his interests in France secure for the time being, it was essential to gain a more solid foothold in England, and, as the next king, Rufus was tasked with defeating some of the more stubborn Saxon strongholds, and the welsh.

The campaign was as swift as it was bloody, York was stormed by a small force in 1085, and taken in a bloody melee. Having secured this town, he moved his army west, stopping only to pick up reinforcements and laid siege to the Welsh stronghold of Caernarfon in 1087. The siege lasted until 1091, when driven by hunger the garrison launched a suicidal attack on the besieging force, and was wiped out to the last man.

Events on the continent unfolded to the advantage of William. The merchants guild suggested that the town of Rennes would be a worthy addition to the lands of the crown, and Robert, lord of Caen was tasked with bringing it under English control. A large force laid siege to the town in the autumn of 1089. Robert was perhaps the most successful of Williams lords, securing trade agreements with Milan, Spain, and Portugal, and with the capture of Rennes in the winter of 1092, cash began to flow into England. Robert was also a canny negotiator, and used this new found wealth to secure the French castles of Bordeaux and Angers.

Rufus was not Williams only son, and in an effort not to show favouritism, he tasked his youngest son, Henry, with bringing the Scots under the control of England. He invaded at the head of a powerful force of knights in 1098 and made straight for Edinburgh. The city was besieged in the same year, but the Scots were more powerful than anticipated, and a powerful army relieved the city in the same year. Rather than retreat, Henry decided to stand and fight. His army was heavily outnumbered, 2200 Scots faced a mere 1300 Englishmen, but he trusted his knights to win the day. At first the battle went well, the initial charge of the knights smashed into the Scottish line and sent them reeling, but a counterattack bogged down the cavalry, unable to withdraw his knights Henry committed his infantry to the fight with casualties mounting on both sides, Henry Himself joined the fray and the battle hung in the balance.

The arrival of the Scottish king on the field secured the Fate of the English, and Henry was forced to withdraw with what remained of his army to York to await reinforcements.

Intent on seeing the Scots defeated before his death, William sent Prince Rufus to take command of the English army and drive the Scots back. Henry had not been idle, and had garrisoned a fort on the border to give the English breathing room should the Scots seek revenge and invade.

Williams dream of uniting all of England under his rule was not realised when he passed away peacefully in his sleep in London

Rufus the Rash 1102-1105

Having been left with shattered Army of the North and the grim prospect of a Scottish invasion by his fathers overly ambitious plans, an embattled Rufus gathered what forces he could and headed north to confront the Scots. Gathering what was left of his brother Henry tattered army in Nottingham and his son Harold’s own retainers along the way. Due the catastrophic defeat of Henry's army few infantry were available, and so Rufus was forced to rely on his most powerful, but fragile force, his Knights.

Due to over confidence, lack of experience in field combat, and facing a battle hardened Scottish King, he was forced for face a strong force in a defensive position, relying on Harold to deal with any Scottish reinforcement Rufus launched an all out assault with his Knight, unfortunately the canny Scots were prepared for this and the knights suffered heavy casualties.

In a desperate attempt to win the battle along with his brother Davy, he lead his personal bodyguard in a heroic charge, in this frenzied melee Rufus was mortally wounded, and despite his frantic pleas to his brother refused to leave his brother side, and having killed many a Scot also fell to their hacking swords. Just as the English force looks to be beaten, Harold and his own knight having dealt with the Scottish reinforcement charged into the rear of the Scot line, realising the battle was lost the Scottish king fled the field, leaving the road to Edinburgh open.

With the death of his brother, Robert assumes the throne in a time of great strife and turmoil, can he assure the future of his family and his country, or will he like his brothers fall.

Robert 1115- 1155

Winter 1105 - King Robert begins his reign in Rennes at the tender age of 36. Happy with his position on the mainland, Robert returns home to command his forces in England, to consolidate his position & to improve his standing with the Church & his holiness, the Pope, Gregory.

Upset by the loss of his brothers Rufus & Davy at the hands of the Scots, Robert seeks to gather his forces & avenge his country’s loss

Winter 1113 - Harold Chamberlyn leads the English forces, originally mustered under Rufus, North into the Scottish lands to wage war against the wily Scots. Chamberlyn leads almost 1500 men against the 1000 of Alexander Canmore. The armies clash just south of Edinburgh, where Chamberlyn kills all but 7 Scots, who fled the field of battle, at the cost of 118 men. The following year Chamberlyn leads his force on & besieges the Scottish Castle at Edinburgh. Edinburgh eventually fell in 1118 following a 5 year siege.

Winter 1111 – Charged by the Council of Nobles to deal with the Irish, Captain Lewis takes the village of Dublin at the head of a force of elite knights, supported by Billmen & Longbows.

Summer 1112 – By now King Robert’s top General, Harold Chamberlyn leads the remnants of his invasion force to the Scottish Capital of Inverness. As he draws near, the garrison Force led by the Scottish King sallies forth to make one last stand, supported by a second force led by his last son.

Chamberlyn takes the battle to the Scottish Prince, personally running down the last of his forces at the head of his elite cavalry. The Prince disposed of, Chamberlyn turns his attention to the remaining forces of the Scottish King, who he now outnumbers 2-to-1. The Scottish King makes a valiant last stand atop the hill, while English arrows rain down out of the sky & the English knights encircle him. None are left alive as the English sweep to victory, finally bringing all of England to heel. Chamberlyn has left the way clear for King Robert to return to Caen to further his conquest of the mainland.

Summer 1136 – The Pope passes on to be replaced by English Cardinal, Robert Anselm, who becomes Pope Arrigus, at the age of 63.

Winter 1148 – The Danes, who have long been our allies, finally show their true colours & betray us, having expanded as far as they can by conquering the Rebel town of Bruges. A pitched battle ensues where 3 armies of the Danes encircle Harold Chamberlyn, who is on his way to deal with the Danes at Bruges. The forces of Chamberlyn act quickly & completely destroy 2 of the attacking armies, finally routing the 3rd from the field.

Summer 1149 – Following their defeat outside Bruges, the Danish Emissary comes crawling to Chamberlyn, asking for a cease-fire. Chamberlyn negotiates the surrender of the town of Bruges in exchange for a temporary peace, while he amasses his forces on the Danish border. Unfortunately, as Summer turns to Winter, an Imperial Inquisitor judges Chamberlyn & finds him wanting, leaving the English forces with a much lesser general at the helm.

Robert eventually dies in his sleep in 1155. In his 40 year reign he has managed to pacify the outlying regions of England, annihilating the Scottish forces & the Irish rebels. Having consummated his success at home, Robert continues the momentum & sweeps relentlessly across the mainland, taking several territories from the Danish. Robert leaves behind 2 large armies of elite, hardened troops, 1 at the recently-conquered province of Antwerp & the other outside the French capital of Paris, ready to invade at the behest of his eminence the Pope.

Henry I (1155 – 1178)

While Robert was more of a martial King, his main considerations being the defeat of the Scots, and waging war against the Danes. Henry had been in York long enough to realise that his policies while admirable, were not sustainable. He found, upon taking the crown, that the territories in France were near rebellion, and the war with the danes were sapping English strength away from what, in Henry's mind was most important. Namely securing the territories that rightly belonged to england. There was of course, a bond of blood between the french and the english, and the new french king had laughed at the english envoy when it was suggested that the crown of France be passed to his brother Robert. he would of course, set things right, and take by force, what should have been given peacefully.

That would have to wait, however, the Treasury was empty, unrest was rife, and, in 1156 there was an outbreak of plague in inverness. Some saw this as an omen of things to come, Henry saw it differently 'what do i care if a few scots die, it means there is more space for the English' It also became apparent that Englands neighbours on the continent were using the opportunity to spy on his holdings, and under the guidance of Robert, a spy network had not been established to track the movements of enemy agents, nor prevent them from moving freely in france, something that he would endevour to correct as fast as he was able.

His plans were setback somewhat when the Danes, continuing their campaign against the English, Besieged the newly aquired city of antwerp. The english, true to Form, sallied and saw of the Danish army, after inflicting Horrendous casualties, and killing prince Olaf.
Henry was not one to hang about, after many years of near Exile in york, he was determined to make his mark and outdo both his broother Robert, and his father, William. and in 1157 an English army laid siege to Rheims. a strong french force attempted to relieve the city, but was defeated in what would become known as the battle of Rheims, so total was the slaughter, that Sir Nigel, the general of the English army, was able to take the city within days. The city was sacked, and the english treasury swelled. Nigel then led the force to besiege Paris, and this city fell too, being sacked in 1160.

The ascendancy of English power did not go un-noticed, The Holy Roman Empire briefly besieged Rheims, but when they were challenged by an nglish army, they were quick to offer terms for a ceasefire. their army retreated to the fortress of Metz, and Nigel followed.

The funds from the sack of two cities allowed Henry to begin modernising the ARmy, recruit militia's in all he major cities, and get a counterspy network established, it payed dividends as enemy agents were caught, order was restored, and income began to pour in. englands new found power also prompted Denmark to offer terms, and Henry readily agree'd, he wanted to concentrae on aquiring the lands that belonged to him, namely, those of the French King. He would have them eitherby killing his enemy, or by the french king swearing allegiance to him, naturally, the latter would not occur.

With a newly raised army assembled, and raiders having opened the way, an english army with Leonard Chamberln at its head marched towards Toulouse, and in 1167 the city was besieged. Chamberlyn simply invested the city, it was his intention to draw the french into battle by forcing them to relieve the city. this they did in 1174, but, as had happened before, the english were victorious, their longbows and a strong defensive position proving descisive, alas for Leonard chamberlyn, in an act of god, he was one of the few English casualties that day, his horse, startled by a fox, reared and threw him off, helanded on one of the stakes he had ordered deployed, and was killed outright. the fate of the city was not changed, Toulouse was sacked, the soldiers, driven by the desire to avenge their general, and more importantly, to get as much gold as they could, lost all sense of reason, and the city was put to the sword.

Henry was saddened by the loss of his friend, but his reforms to the army, and the country were almost complete, England now boasted a competent network of spies and counter spies, and a powerful army, one that would hopefully be able to stave off any attack, wherever it originated. He died peacefully in 1178, as news reached him that the final stronghold of the french king, marseille, was ripe for the taking