Pics & History of your Empire

[Bregil the Bowman]

Part Seven of an Account of a VI 2.01 campaign as the Almohads

The Wooing of Margrethe

As soon as he had secured his accession to the throne, Umar III set out on his travels. The following year he set up his court in Saxony where the Danish king’s 17 year old daughter, Margrethe, was also visiting. With Margrethe’s uncle, Hardeknud, having been raised at the Almohad court, it is likely that Umar already knew much of the fair Danish princess and may have set out deliberately to woo her. Whatever the truth, a legend has grown up that Umar was immediately smitten with Margrethe and fell instantly in love.

However, the Danes were at war with the Almohads and until that could be resolved there was little hope of securing the match. Umar therefore ordered the withdrawal of troops from Saxony and Sweden as an indication of peaceful intentions. Naturally no fool, he ensured that sufficient troops remained within easy call to defend against any treacherous Danish attack. The offices of the Grand Imam of Copenhagen (Denmark being by now 94% Muslim) were called upon to help arrange a ceasefire between the nations.

Alas, Umar’s plan was not to be. As feared, the Danish army once more crossed the Skaggerack and drove the tiny Swedish garrison back behind the walls of Stockholm. A relieving party arrived from Norway and the Danes retreated without a blow being struck. It was a pointless, sabre-rattling affair, but put paid to any hopes that Umar would win his bride.

Nonetheless, the year after the Swedish debacle, Umar acknowledged a son, officially the child of a blonde-haired Circassian slave he had taken as a wife on ascending the throne. Certainly Prince Yusuf had a lighter complexion and fairer hair than any of the Al-Mutamids to date. The following year Margrethe departed Saxony, where she had remained despite the hostilities between her father and her suitor. Legend has it that she and Umar had indeed consummated their love, and that she had secretly borne him a son before, in the end, choosing her father and her religion over her lover. It is even said that they had been married according to Muslim law, but that because he had wives already that marriage could not be acknowledged by the Christian world. Whatever the truth may be, Umar did not succeed in either making Margrethe his wife or making peace with his Danish neighbours.

One section of the army removed from Saxony was used, along with troops handpicked from around the empire, to conduct and invasion of Lithuania. With the border at Kiev strongly protected by the river, Umar instead ordered an invasion by sea. This manoeuvre caught the Prince of Novgorod somewhat by surprise, and allowed the Almohad force plenty of time to assemble before it marched south.

The Army of Novgorod consisted mainly of Boyars, troops of the highest quality but few in number. The Almohad army under Amir Al-Hakam, Master of the Khalifah’s Horses, included a number of steppe heavy cavalrymen, to counter the mobile threat of the boyars, but at its core were mixed infantry units, including longbows and arbalesters. Having used cannon with success against the Byzantines in similar terrain, Al-Hakam also included some light cannon.

In the event, the battle proved a damp squib. Rather than face cannon fire, the Prince of Novgorod retreated, allowing the Almohads to establish their infantry lines in good order without interference. An exchange of arrows between the two armies saw more Russians fall than Almohads, and the boyars again retreated. Neither side had suffered heavy casualties, but Prince Chort had had enough. Leaving a small garrison to defend Vilnius – which would be utterly destroyed by Almohad gunnery – the Prince fled back to Novgorod. Once Vilnius fell, the Almohads laid waste the country and drew back to Kiev. The garrison at Livonia was also extracted. With empty lands between themselves and the People of Novgorod, they again sued for peace, but were refused.

In Malta, Prince Mohammed was becoming increasingly irrational. He assaulted Valetta but found his demi-cannon under-performed against the stout defences. Rather than await the heavier guns promised by his nephew, he decided to assault the castle gates and claim his crown without delay. A bitter, bloody battle ensued with heavy losses on both sides, but in the end the garrison was slaughtered. This was not before the harbour was blocked by sunken merchantmen, and the facilities burned to the ground. Having conquered Malta, it would take Mohammed four years to escape, during which time his mind became entirely unhinged – it was said he was as mad as his brother, the Khalifah Ibrahim. He even changed his name (inexplicably) to “the Amir Wahid,” refusing the title of King for which he had fought so hard and spent so many lives.

As the Amir Wahid, he was charged with the conquest of Sicily, which he began as soon as the ports were available to remove his troops. The Sicilian garrison put up no resistance, but as preparations for the siege began, King Arcill II crossed from Naples with an army of considerable force. The Amir Wahid defended from an advantageous hilltop, but found that the new cannon that had at last arrived from Tripoli were almost entirely useless against troops in the field, particularly as the range closed. Many gunners were killed by relentless Sicilian archery, and the chivalric troops and royal knights of the Sicilian army fought well against the Almohad veterans. Even so, the Almohads had the victory, and though losses were high on both sides it would be Arcill who rued the loss of his best troops.

1307 closed with Umar III in firm control of his realm, with the Danes confined to Denmark, the Sicilians penned in Naples, the People of Novgorod driven north and the Golden Horde limited to Georgia and Armenia. Poland, Italy and the Papacy maintained the truce. It seemed Umar would have little to do but rule an empire secure and at peace.

The first reports of an army officer named Andronicus leading a revolt against the Muscovite barons hardly excited much comment, even when it became known that he had titled himself “Emperor of the Eastern Romans.” But when the rebels of Livonia, Lithuania, Ryazan and Peryslavl declared themselves as his vassals, the situation became one of greater concern. A re-emergence of the Byzantines had occurred in the turbulent steppelands.

Umar, still only twenty-three, smiled to himself. His forefathers had made their names as mighty warriors as well as statesmen. So might he, after all.