The Chronicle of Henri II, the Builder, 1132-1162

1132
Paris was cold at this time of year. King Henri II, heir to the late King Jean, shivered slightly under his cloak. He looked at the massive army marching forth, he knew that by the time they finally reached Levant it would be many times this size.

For many years before this time Henri's father Jean had worked tirelessly to increase France's power. He had originally hoped to consolidate France, to increase its wealth, but the other nations of the world would not sit back idly while his father wisely governed his realm. Those nations surrounding France attacked mercilessly, thinking the French would remain weak after its war with England, but King Jean had proved them all wrong. Germany's western territories were crushed, and added to the realm of the Franks as they should have been after the reign of Charlemagne. England, for its continental ambitions, was forced to watch has the Lord d'Artois ground their armies into dust. Aragon perished from the face of God's green earth, and recently, under the reign of Henri, Spain had suffered the same fate. Henri knew he could never be the general, the master of war, that his father had been, but he also knew that his father had nonetheless left him with a great task that he knew was well within his skills and abilities, the same task which Jean had hoped to perform, but nonetheless failed to do due to the incessant wars: the consolidation of the realm. Henri vowed to carry out that task, to bring France out of its backwardness to become the most technologically advanced, the wealthiest, the most powerful nation on earth.

1130's
All of France's borders were secure, none threatened its might in terms of military arms, France's armies were superior to those of its enemies on every front, except one. The Almohads to the south had postively some of the best soldiers in Europe. Many of their infantry soldiers were veterans, hardened by years of combat with the Spanish, and now they threatened the southern border of France.

Henri had never really cared too much for the Iberian peninsula, yet that was nonetheless not the core issue here. Another nation had made an insult to his military power, something that could not be tolerated. England dared not threaten Wessex in its weakened state, the German's had learned their lesson in previous decades, but the Almohads had never faced the French in battle, and France was, after all, the only country with truly valuable land on their borders. The 1130's saw the first few battles, largely games of cat and mouse, occur in Iberia. Rebels in some areas were bribed and in other areas the French skirmished with the Almohads. At first the French tried to win sway over much of the peninsula rebels, but this was not accomplished on a large scale which gave way to the campaigns of the 1140's and 50's.

Levant, however, was much more of a contested ground. Immediately after taking over the kingship, the Egyptians attemped to dislodge the French from Tripoli. Tripoli was a valuable province, it was here that the French eventually hoped to establish a massive fortress to provide for the Crusaders. Naturally, Henri was not about to give it up.

The Crusaders deployed their forces on a hill on the edge of a small valley-type area ringed with hills. This one wasn't particularily larger than the others, but it was hard to assault as it was seperated, so the Unholy brigands would not be able to mount a nearby hill and assault a carefully-constructed flank. A mangonel was deployed but all of the other siege equipment was discarded due to it being under-manned and un-necessary. In front was a wall of spears backed by swordsmen, militia, and peasants. Behind this was a massive amount of 240 or so archers. The French strategy was to lure the Egyptians right into the center of their line with a unit of horse archers, a tactic which they would use many times throughout the empire during Henri's reign. No other time did it work as perfectly as it did here. The Egyptians charging the position were bombarded with the mangonel and arrows, the spears stood fast and the enemy soldiers were counter-charged by peasants, militia, and swordsmen. Flank attacks by cavalry were executed with textbook precision, and the Egyptian army of 3000 was routed by only 2000 crusaders. Of that 3000, the Egyptians lost roughly 1200 to the crusaders 700. In addition, during the 1130's Henri began his many building projects, for which his later name, Henri the Builder, is derived.

1140's
In this period Henri's true magnificance began to come forth. Edessa was taken with crusades, the fortress in Tripoli was coming along nicely, and the French, despite having lost Castile, had formulated an effective defensive front at Aragon and Navarre. But Henri's real pride were his ships, his father had began a navy but had not gotten too far before his untimely death, Henri expanded the naval fleet massively during his reign. French ships and merchants dominated trade as far away as the Baltic Sea and as far east as the Italian city-states by 1150. Wealth began to flow to Paris.

Probably the most interesting account from this period was a battle that took place in Antioch. Vengeful for the recent Crusades, the Egyptians launched a massive invasion as they had many years before. The French deployed their forces roughly half-way down a large hill. The hill was crescent shaped and slowly spiraled down a large valley. The Crusaders deployed here because to defend at the top of the hill would be foolhardy, the Moslems could simply climb the gradual incline and negate the height advantage almost entirely. Here, the only gradual slope was a road that would be easily defended. At first, the battle progressed excellently, French cavalry archers ruffled the Moslem's feathers on many occasions and demoralized many of their troops. At last, impatient, the Moslems attacked. Almost the entire enemy line was routed, save the general. The French piled soldiers on the general, and that's when the frustration began. After his entire bodyguard had been eliminated, the French and the general seemed to fight for hours. The French must have stabbed the general countless times. At last the Crusaer general (de Laynes I believe) began cursing saying HOW IS THAT ****ING POSSIBLE??. Many of the French soldiers joined with him in his cursing, and afterwards many said the battle was the fault of the Total War Engine's inability to represent some aspects of battle. While fighting the general, more Egyptian reinforcements were summoned, and a unit of Saracen cavalry charged the French rear, routing the entire Crusader army

Yet nonetheless after the battle Henri saw an oppurtunity. Using troops from the nearby provinces, he launched a massive invasion force at Antioch, while also launching an invasion force at Syria to cut the Egyptians off. The Egyptians gave up without a fight, and the massive army captured (roughly 2500-3500) was refused ransom and slaughtered. Syria was quickly given up again, as Henri placed no value in a desert province.

1150-1163
The 1150's were the years in which Henri's policies began in the 1140's finally took fruition. Contact with Levant was secured and trade goods from Antioch immediately became the most high-demanded in the world. These goods piled gold into the treasury as if there was no tomarrow, immediately nothing in all creation was too expensive for the French treasury. Quality soldiers were being trained in the core provinces and high-grade fortifications sprung up all over the empire.

The 1150's and 60's also saw the largest amount of territorial expansion since the campaigns of King Jean from 1113-1131. At last, sick of the war in Iberia, King Henri assembled massive armies from all over France and poured them into Castile. Soon after, Leon, Cordoba, and Valencia fell, many without a fight. King Henri's son, Charles, came of age and launched a campaign further south, taking Granada, Morrocco, and Algeria while Henri took Portugal. In addition, another Crusade took Palestine, the great and wondrous Krak des Chevaliers was began, and French merchants dominated every single sea zone in the world. Excellent high-grade fully developed Feudal soldiers were almost ready to be trained. In future years, Toulouse's knights would become the most renown in the world.

With the capture of their massive army in the late 1140's, Egypt was no more than a shell of what it once was capable of. The Turks were pre-occupied with the Byzantines, and the Germans had to worry about the Polish. The English could not even effectively control the Scots. Many of the nations around France still existed only because Henri allowed them to.

Yet there would still be great trials ahead. The Byzantine empire had expanded to encompass seemingly all of Asia, and Henri had heard rumblings of a massive, unstoppable horde coming through Asia to collide on the unsuspecting Europeans. Yet he knew his sons were up to the challenge. Each one was intelligant, brilliant, and he left the resources of the most powerful nation in the world at their disposal. He knew they would one day conquer the world, and expressed this at his death-bed.

In 1162, while lying there sick and cold, Henri remember the first days of his reign, when he was seeing off the Crusaders to conquer Edessa. He remembered how far he had come since then, and looked at his sons, his heirs, in the eyes. He said to them a quote that should be remembered throughout all history, something that was above all else a declaration of the things to come, Sons you shall be the ones who in the annals of history will be remembered for conquering the world. The sons beamed with pride. However... he began with a grin, I will be remembered as the one who made it possible.