THE CHRONICLES CAPETIENNE

BOOK I, Chapter IX

“Then King Philip caused there to be sent forth a proclamation, to be read outside the church of every village and within the chapel of every castle, and this is what it said:

‘In the name of the Holy and Individual Trinity, Amen. I, Philip, by the Grace of God King of France. Let all men past, present and future know that on account of the wicked depredations of the commune of Dijon and the crimes of the Castellan of Bordeaux, we have quashed that Commune and disenfranchised that Castellan, and that henceforth the lordship of both those places shall revert to the Crown. From this day on, all men there, and their villeins shall attend our army and our expeditions as do our other vassals.’

And the King and his Knights and Lieutenants assieged that Town and that Castle, and many great feats of arms were done when they breached the walls. This was done in the Winter of 1082, around Michaelmas.“

Welcome to Vignette 2 – France!

After an entertaining campaign as the English, I am looking forward immensely to trying a different tack, and the Cavalry-heavy French seem like just the place to start. Thanks to the kind advice of several forumites, the dull prose of this vignette will be broken up by strategically placed pictures, and I hope that each will be worth, if not a thousand, then at least several dozen words. The narrator’s voice this time is an unfortunate pastiche of Froissart’s chronicles, but with luck it will still engage people’s interest. As adding pictures takes time, I’m afraid updates will probably be less frequent than my first Vignette.

Finally a quick note on gameplay, and a perhaps unexpected challenge. Medieval France was the crucible of chivalry and courtly romance. It would therefore feel strange to play the French as a tough, unscrupulous race like the Anglo-Normans. What this means is that unless a given character is naturally ‘bad’ (positive dread when born/adopted), all gameplay choices will be focused on having the most chivalrous possible characters. A side-effect of this is that Castles with their potential for tourney-fields will outnumber cities, and that most enemies taken will be released. Cash may therefore be a bit tight…

The game will be played at VH/VH.

Background



As the map above shows, France starts with five settlements. The capital is Paris, a large town. east of Paris, Rheims in the north and Marseille in the south are two bustling trading towns. West of Paris stands the wooden castle of Angers, and in the South, the castle of Toulouse is the bastion of Le Roi Philip’s military might.

The campaign goals are straightforward: Capture 20 provinces, and defeat the English. Looking at the above map, France is well supplied with rebel provinces on its borders, so early expansion will come from them: this should net me between four and eight new provinces depending on how fast the AI gets its act in gear.

The Roll of Honour





King Philip I ‘le Bel’ (a.k.a. the Chivalrous) (above) is ruler of France in 1080, and reigns over his fledgling kingdom from Paris. His terrifying son Prince Louis, the Merciless, (below), commands the King’s forces from his stronghold at Toulouse.

The Capetians cannot be entirely comfortable in their control of France, however. Three ambitious generals, from top to bottom Duke Guillemot de Lyon, Duke Raoulet Poitevin and Duke Perrin Gassou all seek to outdo their rivals and, perhaps, dream one day to supplant Hugh Capet’s line.








Initial strategy

France starts the game with a meaty five provinces, but to counter this, it has six potential neighbours: England, Denmark, the HRE, Milan, Spain and Portugal. Diplomacy and not warring on multiple fronts will therefore be crucial to France’s success or failure, and as on VH/VH keeping foreign powers (plus His Holiness) happy at all times is an expensive business, it will be a difficult start to the game.

Since trying to keep all six nations onside from the get go would bankrupt France, alternatives need to be considered. The most obvious first step is to remove the English from Caen: kicking the arrogant Normans off the continent should keep them penned up in their little island, where the Scots can keep them occupied AND saves the cost of maintaining garrisons in northern france/paying off the Old Enemy. The next step is to pick one of Spain and Portugal and make a very firm alliance with them, assisting them by fighting their enemy’s armies in the field. With only one, allied, power on the Iberian peninsular and small-to-moderate garrisons in Toulouse and Bordeaux, France should be safe from attack from the southwest at the cost of maybe 500-1000 florins per turn. To help keep the initial alliance tight, my princess will head straight down there to marry the heir of whichever power is most receptive.

The Danes are problematic – I’ll see how they develop. With luck they won’t get close to Bruges or Luxembourg, but if they do they may be a counterweight to the power of the HRE. Similarly, it is hard to know what to do with the Milanese. As they are a tiny duchy of only two provinces, if I am at war with them too much I can expect the pope to be annoyed since I’ll be at least twice their size for most of the early game. I have therefore decided to buy off the Duke of Milan, and to keep a large standing army in Marseille to discourage attacks.

That leaves the Germans, very worthy foes indeed. The sheer size of the HRE means that it must be contested at every opportunity, before it becomes a near-unstoppable juggernaut. Right now the settlements at Metz and Dijon are rebel-held, so capturing and fortifying them as a bulwark against the Reich will be an important short term goal. Peace, I think, will not be an option, and so I made a mental note to try to keep on good terms with the Poles and Magyars.

Since I plan to take the bulk of my European provinces from the Germans, keeping the pope onside will be crucial. I’ll be training diplomats every turn for the first few, until I have semi-permanent embassies at each neighbour’s nearest cities - and in a few other places.

Finally, the Capetians are a pious breed, and what goal could be greater – or more glorious – than recovering the Holy Land from its Saracen masters? An unofficial goal of this campaign will therefore be to go on crusade and make up the remainder of France’s total of 20 provinces by carving out an empire in the Levant.




France in 1080. Short term acquisitions in red, medium term targets in yellow.

Time to see how well Chivalry will fare…Vive La Roi, et vive aussi La France!