Doge Enrico II (patron name and NOT indicative of an Italian leader) was next:
===========
The voice belonged to King Leszek I of Poland. He lay in a bed in a dank room of Krakow Castle, feeble and broken. His son, Mieszko, stepped forward, out of the shadows and away from his three brothers, Boleslaw, Kazimierz, and Wladyslaw.
“As you know my son, I have smallpox, a deadly disease. I don’t know how long I shall still live. But while I still live, I bequeath to you my realm. Your realm is no longer meek and small, but large and very strong. But before you can be crowned, you must learn of my reign and what you will from it.”
Mieszko took a seat right next to his father’s bed, and began to listen.
“Here is my story:
1201: I married your mother Ade, a princess of Hungary and began an extensive building program.
1202: Your mother gave birth to you and many of my buildings were finished.
1205: I resisted the Devil’s temptation to make Byzantium.
1206: Shunned an offer to have Egypt as an ally.
1209: I refused an alliance with the English.
1212: I secured an alliance while securing another son who I named after my father.
1213: I ended my alliance with the Spaniards.
1214: I allied with the evil Seljuk Turks, not one of my most noteworthy accomplishments.
1217: I finally gave in to temptation and allied with Byzantium.
1220: One of my agents reported the appearance of an Asiatic threat of vast numbers, and a mobilization like the world had never seen began, and I once again refused to ally with the English.
1221: I once again became an ally of the Spanish kingdom.
1222: I refused the offer of a French alliance.
1224: I listened to my conscience and ended my alliance with Byzantium and refused France.
1228: I turned away an Egyptian emissary and his offer of an alliance.
1229: I accepted the thought of an alliance with Egypt.
1230: 'The horde of the Tartars is numberless. When one is killed, another ten spring from the hell whence he came. each of them has the head of a dog, and carries with him sufficient weapons for three or four warriors.'
So wrote Benedict the Pole, and he had every reason to be fearful, even if he had confused Tartars with Mongols. The Golden Horde were more terrible than anything he could have wished to see: cruel, uncompromising, and the most efficient military force since the Caesars. They erased cities, slaughtered thousands, and enslaved any survivors.
The Mongols appeared in Khazaria with a force of 1331 troops to our mere 7171. But even out numbered we prevailed and we destroyed the Mongols. It was our greatest victory.
1236: French and Sicilian alliance offers snubbed.
1238: We attacked my wife’s brother, the King of Hungary with a four-pronged attack.
1239: We took Moldavia(from Egypt), Hungary, Carpathia, and Wallachia.
1240: Croatia was taken.
1241: I finally allied with the Sicilians and a siege relief of Croatia failed.
1242: We attacked Serbia.
1243: We attacked Bohemia, and ceased fire with the Egyptians.
1244: Our scouts sent word that the Hungarian King had escaped to Swabia.
1246: We attacked Bavaria.
1247: Our traditional allies, the Danes, re-emerged.
1250: We attacked Hungary's last province, Swabia.
1251: We killed the Hungarian king along with his son-and-heir, eliminating the Hungarian faction.
1252: I allied with the Danes and attempted to bribe the Venetian rebels.
1253: The rebels took the whole of Venice.
1259: Gunpowder was discovered.
1260: The Danes were once again eliminated.
1261: The English were eliminated.
The current year is 1262. Good luck son.
With those being his last words, he rolled over onto his pillow and died.
![]()
Bookmarks