MacDidz: The Scottish Blog

[Didz]

Summer 1114-Winter 1117: Feeding the fires, the war against heresy gains momentum.
Following the successful denouncement and burning of Isaac by Father Macgoulchane, his convert the former priest Ranald the Unorthodox fled northwards abandoning East Anglia and heading towards Yorkshire.
However, he did not make it very far, Stuart Macgoulchane and his fellow priests managed to corner Ranald near Nottingham and after a brief examination Ranald joined his mentor on the purification fires in the Summer of 1115.

Impressed by this devotion to the faith Pope Petrus immediately promoted Father Macgoulchane to the college of cardinals. Cardinal Macgoulchane and his supporting priests then decided to head for Ireland where David Canmore had reported that Mataad Nevel was still at large and causing trouble.

The Inquisition strikes
Meanwhile, in Scotland the inquisitor Pierus de Canpo manages to track down the elusive heretic Primus and this time there is no escape for the 'hairy nun' and he burns on the pruification fies in Edinburgh's market square. His convert Feradac Besat is currently no where to be seen and seems to have gone to ground, as has Mataad Nevel.

Frustrated at not being able to find the remaining two heretic's inquisitor de Canpo decided to examine Cardinal Macgooulchane's priests and in doing so discovers that Father Micheil Menzies does not meet his exacting standards of christian devotion. Word is sent to London that a replacement priest is needed.

Two heretic's remain at large but there exact whereabouts is currently unknown.

[Didz]

Lucky in war, unlucky in love
Whilst his fortune in battle has been unblemished Edward’s attempts to gain a victory through courtly love is proving much more of a challenge. Princess Mariot has had a fruitless journey to Cordoba and now returns to Spain in the hope of attracting a suitor from amongst the Spanish nobility.

However, her first attempt was a disaster the Spanish Nobleman Goncaluo el Valiente rejected her advances, and now infuriated and desperate she is heading further north to seek out the Spanish noblemen Valdez the Saint she met on her journey south.

In the meantime Nottingham castle is receiving regular visits from suitors hoping to persuade Edward to grant them the hand of his daughter in return for his Royal favours, but so far Edward has rejected them all in the hope of gaining some political or military advantage from his daughter’s hand.

His latest idea is to send Mariot east again, this time to Venice in the hope that an Italian Prince might be available and interested.

[Didz]

Winter 1116 Makmartane sails South.
At last after years of delay Makmartane has sailed with an army to secure Scotlands trading empire in the Africa. Even so, the demands made on the Scottish treasury to support the war against heresy and Prince Kyles Crusade mean that Makmartane's army is hardly of the quality needed to ensure an easy victory, and the fleet transporting it is equality understrength.

However, with Gods blessing both the fleet and the army will survive and acheive their goals.

Admiral Dougall's fleet collects Makmartane and his rapidly assembled army from the Welsh coast and heads south.

The plan is to land Makmartane and his troops on the coast of Morocco where they will make a quick dash across Portuguese territory into the Sahara and then head south for Timbuktu. The hope is that Makmartane will be able to hire friendly natives locally to bolster his numbers and make up for his lack of foot soldiers before he reaches his goal.

Having landed Makmartane's Army, Admiral Dougall’s fleet will continue eastwards into the Mediterranean and will rendezvous with Prince Kyle’s crusade somewhere along the Adriatic coast. Then, hopefully reinfoced by additional mercenary ships, Dougall will load the Prince’s Crusaders and carry them on to Jerusalem.

It was an ambitious plan, woefully under resourced but at least it was underway.

[Didz]

Summer 1116: The collapse of the Spanish Coalition
Just as Edward had predicted the ex-communication of The Holy Roman Emperor triggered hostile interest from a number of other christian factions. France ended its war with Spain to attack the HRE and they were joined by both Venice and Denmark.

More interestingly Spain decided that it no longer wished to be associated with the HRE. probably on the direction of the Pope, and cancelled their alliance leaving the Spanish coalition with only England and Portugal as its other members.

The HRE now became the centre of its own coalition consisting of the other ex-communicated Christian faction Milan, plus the Byzantine Empire, and much to Edwards surprise, Hungary.

The impact that this reshuffle of the political cards might have on Scotlands trade route to Africa was not yet clear. Portugal was still allied with both Spain and the HRE and thus in theory unlikely to be friendly towards Scotland or France. However, England was now far more isolated politically than it had been when Spain and France were at war and a lot would depend on what Spain did next.

Winter 1117: Prince Lulach comes of age.

King Edward’s youngest son Lulach comes of age