1086. Winter. After twenty bloody years of unification the kingdom of Aragon was taking shape at long last. From the meager province of Alto Aragon it had grown to encompass much of the northern eastern counties. Having been at war for nearly twenty straight years under its Crusader Queen Maria 'The Lion' de Murcia the kingdom desperately needed a time of peace to consolidate it's power and establish firm hold over the lands it had conquered, but no such luck.
In 1086 after having watched for twenty years while Aragon broke and defeated each Muslim county one by oine in the north the powerful Almoravid Sultanate in the south launched an invasion, determined to put down the new upstart kingdom and outflank the battered Kingdom of Castile in one fell swoop. With the death of the late Castillian king only a few short years before the old alliances forged two decades prior were dead. Aragon stood alone against the terrible menace at her borders.. or did it? A rider appeared on the horizon at the 11th hour, just as the Aragonese marshaled their forces.
The Regent of Castile, with full support of the child king sent an envoy pledging their support in defense of the Aragonese throne. Queen Maria pulled her forces back to the river Alagon, near the village of Frades de la Sierra to await reinforcements. It would be there the fate of her kingdom would be decided.
Aragon's forces were tired and exhausted after countless seasons spent campaigning, bringing new countiess into the fold. But they were a proud band, not one among them doubted their conviction.
The fighting was savage and desperate as the Sultan of the Almoravids himself led the center against the combined strength of the northern kingdoms. Both sides refused to give way as fighting is said to have lasted for as long as two weeks. Each day beginning with a new charge, and each night ending with the counting of the dead. The rivers ran red in those long bloody weeks, but through great sacrifice and loss, the battle was won and the northern Christians claimed victory. The Sultan fell back to Albarracin county and dug in. The Aragonese and Castilians, swelled with pride and confidence, followed them in their retreat. But the north's forces were heavily disorganized after the Battle of the Alagon, it's suspected Christian forces suffered as deep as 60% casualties in the battle despite their victory.
The follow up battle proved disastrous and saw the destruction of the allied northern army. Immediately in response to the defeat, a powerful faction backing a pretender to the Castilian throne rose up in open revolt, challenging the regency of the child king. Castile withdrew her battle weary survivors and returned home to deal with the insurrection, leaving Aragon well and truly alone.
For two years the southern counties were ravaged by the victorious armies of the Sultan as they pressed their advantage. The warchests were empty and hope seemed to dim. There were no more soldiers to fight the war, and no money to finance a new campaign even if their were. It was then, when all expectations of victory had faded that a messenger arrived from the Pope. In His Holiness' infinite wisdom, he had observed the ongoing conflict and had sent his envoys to convey his full support. The gesture was largely symbolic, but the chests of gold the envoy delivered were far more than that. The wealth was more than enough to scrape together a counter-attack and drive the Muslim forces out of Aragon once and for all!
The armies clashed in Zaragoza, the forces of the Aragonese backed by substantial mercenary troops (with some coming as far as Ireland to take part in the campaign) attacked the Sultanate and his forces, who by now were laden with the riches stolen from the provinces of the south. The attack was fierce and halted the Sultanate's powerful advance, stomping cold his push into the north and crushing his army. It was the first major victory in over two years for Christian forces. The mercenary troops continued south and liberated the occupied county of Albarracin. Unfortunately, that is where the campaign had to draw to a close. Unable to support the expensive cost of so many professional soldiers the Aragonese delivered the last payments to the troops who had fought for them and brought an end to their contracts.
For 18 months the borders of the two belligerent realms were quiet. Castile still struggled against the pretender in the west and so were no threat to anyone, in the meantime however, the Sultanate and Aragon continued desperate attempts to rebuild. Whichever kingdom could come up with either the manpower, or the wealth, to support one last campaign would be the victor of the conflict..
Unfortunately for the north that was the Sultanate. Marshaling a powerful force of over 6,000 me the Sultan returned with renewed purpose and smashed the Aragonese defense at the Third Battle of Albarracin. Worse still the defeat cost the Kingdom of Aragon it's most powerful warleader, the Lion of Aragon herself, Maria de Murcia.
Broken, leaderless, and with little hope for victory, the Kingdom of Aragon passed to Ramiro II, son of the late Maria and thought to be one of the greatest military minds of his generation. The Sultan was swelled in confidence as he marched further north and entered the mountainous county of Alto-Aragon. It was there that he encountered a rebuilt and strong army, hardened by almost a half decade of war. The army was not of Aragon, but of Castile, who had finally put down their rebellion and returned to the battlefields in the east. Ramiro II in command of only a small retinue of his own men, took control of the allied effort and smashed the Muslim advance. His victory officially marks the turning point in the war, outnumbered 3 to 1, Ramiro's victory is a battle that military scholars studied endlessly for centuries afterward
But even with the great victory Ramiro faced an empty treasury and an inability to go on the attack. There just wasn't enough money or men to propel the war machine forward. Was it luck, or was it fate that then intervened? It's hard to say, but shortly after the bloody battle in the northern mountains an envoy from the Venetian dodge arrived, carrying with them great chests of gold! They wished to open new markets on the shores of Aragon and hoped that they money would serve as an incentive for the great King Ramiro to permit such things. Ramiro welcomed the foreign merchants with opened arms. The following year, the beleaguered northern forces launched the final counter attack of the war and completely ruined the Sultan's dreams of pacifying the Kingdom of Aragon. The veterans of the Battle of Alto-Aragon, backed by mercenaries bought with Venetian gold, were far too much for the weary Almoravid troops. Eight years after the outbreak of hostilities the great Sultan of the Almoravids conceded defeat and the invasion was officially brought to a close.
It would be the beginning of the end for Muslim dominance of the Western Mediterranean. Ramiro II moved quickly, cementing his alliance with a marriage of the Castilian King to his sister. The union would last and as each Kingdom fully supported the other through the coming decades, as one power grew, so too did another. With the powerful alliance at home, Ramiro further increased his power by remembering his Venetian allies. In 1106 he expelled all Geonese traders from his lands, opening the way for Venice to claim dominance of the trade in eastern Iberia. Back by the Venetian Doge abroad and supported by his brother-in-law in Castile, Ramiro oversaw the greatest military expansion of the Kingdom in its history. Surpassing that of even his mother's reign, his wars would make Aragon well and truly whole.
In 1120 after decades of continued war, a powerful Kingdom of Aragon (now fully in control of Valencia, Barcelona and all of de jure Aragon) claimed victory in a papal sponsored Crusade for Sicily, extending the power of the court of Aragon as far as the boot of Italy.
Re: Crusader Kings II
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Originally Posted by Ishmael
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