Kingdom of Portuzia and Migros
A Historical Kingdom situated in what is now the Framton Province and the Portuzia Region, the Kingdom of Portuzia and Migros was the first double monarchy in Ilandia, and at its prime it was the greatest power Ilandia had ever known since the retreat of the Romasians.
Its downfall eventually played a major role in Ilandia's rise.
.
Structure
There actually never was one unified Kingdom de-jure, but during the 160 years of its existence the two kingdoms' administrations grew very close to each other, and even texts from that time mention the "Kingdom of Poruziana-Migros (Framton)", which makes clear they were considered to be one and the same country.
Unlike most other kingdoms in Ilandia at the time Portuzia-Migros had a pretty centralised government, with the king on top and his lords under him, but the king was limited in his power by the "Documentum Constitutionum", a document signed by the last Romasian Emperor who ruled Ilandia.
.
History
.
Bardolf II
At the 6th of June 621 the 23 year old King Bardolf II of Migros married Queen Sapphire of Portuzia, making Bardolf king of both Portuzia and Migros, making him the most powerful ruler of Ilandia.
Bardolf was a relatively peace-loving king and he spent the rest of his life centralising the government of his two kingdoms.
In 643 Migros was struck with an outbreak of the Plague, and king Bardolf fell ill and died shortly after.
His 22 year old son Bardolf III succeeded him.
Bardolf III
Bardolf III was not like his father, he was a real warrior and went to war against the rich Kingdom of Lindimunia, which he defeated in the Battle of Sinna Bridge. He went against the ancient Ilandian custom of installing a new king in the conquered kingdom, which was the very reason Ilandia politically was so constant, and annexed the kingdom instead.
The Archbisshop of Portuzia, Garray, excommunicated him for this "Violation of Gods will disclosing Ilandian Stability" saying that God didn't put Ilandia at the very edge of the world just for some lousy king to destabilise it.
Bardolf III was not impressed and made a journey to the pope, so that he could determine wether he was in the correct position, and in return for some support against the local nobles the pope agreed he was correct.
Not long after Archbisshop Garray was killed and buried in an anonymous mass grave, sparking a long crisis all over Ilandia.
First Clerical War
After Garray's death clerics all over Portuzia-Migros rebelled against Bardolfs reign, and yet again Bardolf was not impressed.
He ordered his army to capture these clerics and bring them to Dugusto, where he slaughtered all thousands of them, claiming they were impious to rebel against him, who had the blessing of the Pope and instead he appointed clerics loyal to him to take their places.
A priest called Humphredus of Illevaburg however escaped by hiding in the crypts of his church in the village of Westford-By-Sea and fled to the Catholic kingdom of Mirans in the north, where he informed the king of what had happened and raised an army with the support of the Miranese.
This army, according to experts some 5500 men, but according to Miranese sources some 60,000 people strong, then proceeded to invade Portuzia-Migros led by a group of clerics, whose names were: Humphredus of Illevaburg, Guarinus of Malag and Archbisshop Berteram the Slaughterer . The protagonist in the medieval story The Story of Berteram the Slaughterer .
After a few days the Miranese army was confronted by a relatively small group of some 2130 Portuzian knights led by Bardolf III's son, Prince Siegfried of Enceron, himself, in Lensburgh, sparking the Battle of Lensburgh at the 23th of August 648.
A few hours later the Miranese army was annihilated, the fields around Lensburgh were drained with blood of the fallen, and William of Enceron ordered his troops to massacre all their captives, for they had disobeyed the will of the pope. Only a few escaped.
Two of them were Humphredus of Illevaburg and the Archbisshop of Cascantum, Berteram the Slaughterer, and together they fled to the capital of the rich kingdom of Forviria. They wanted to have an audience with the king, but he, however, refused, thinking they were mere beggars, and threw them out of his castle.
For two weeks these two clerics lived on the streets as beggars, until the king heard the news about what happened in Lensburgh and accepted them in his castle.
Deeply moved the king prepared an army for the clerics, and soon the kingdoms of Epilogne, Westerford, Werdennau decided to join, as well as the independent Diocese of Villers-Ouismond and the Duchy of Biachy and the kingdom of Mirans.
Together this coalition probably could've crushed the Kingdom of Portuzia-Migros, but the non-Catholic Kingdom of Bevizia decided to join the war on the side of Portuzia-Migros, as the influential and rapidly growing Christian minority in Portuzia supported the Portuzians in their fight (because they were christianized by Portuzian missionaries 50 years prior), turning the war slightly in favour of the Portuzians, but yet they took a long time sending reinforcements.
On the 17th of April 649 the Clerical Army started its invasion of Portuzia-Migros, invading Migros from the north with 43,000 men and Portuzia from the east with 67,000 men. They quickly conquered a lot of land, and there was no effective response from the defending armies; they were waiting for Bevisian reinforcements.
After a while the Portuzian army in the north, consisting of approximately 34,000 men, was forced to retreat to the walled and heavily reinforced city city of Heloord at the Paman River, where they were besieged by the Clerical army led by Humphredus of Illevaburg on the 8th of June, and altough the Clerics tried to capture the city multiple times all attempts failed and hundreds of Clerics died.
The Clerics then besieged the city for four months, and at the 1st of October the Bevisian reinforcements arrived.
In the following battle the Clerics were attacked from two sides, as well as severely outnumbered, and the Clerical army was torn apart, the rememnants of the army, some 11,000 men, retreated behind the Cowglevate River and destroyed all bridges over the river but one, in the walled city of Westvillen.
After capturing the remaining fleeing Clericals the army, consisting of both Portuzian and Bevisian men, went southwards to support the Portuzians in the east...
While the Portuzians were being besieged in Heloord and the Bevisians were preparing their armies the Portuzians had some serious misadventures and suffered heavy losses at the border with Forviria.
On the 13th of June a Portuzian army consisting of 46,640 men engaged in combat with the much bigger but much well-led army of some 63,500 Clerics near the village Poiseu. Against all odds the Portuzian army lost the battle and was forced to retreat southwards, they had lost at least 5000 men and were in no state to attack the Clerics again and gave up all initiative.
In the months following the battle the Clerics conquered and pillaged a lot of pretty valuable land, but they had not yet reaced the rich heart of Portuzia: Dugusto. With the Clerics gaining a lot of territories observers considered the war a lost case for Bardolf, no one expected he had a trump card, and so Bardolf surprised everyone when he declared the pope had excommunicated everyone fighting him, everyone was declared a heretic and an enemy of the Holy Church.
People were even more surprised when Bardolf managed to assemble yet another army, an army consisting of a 700 men, which might look meager, but it was quite a lot as it consisted of the most trusted and loyal Papal Guardsmen.
These Papal Guardsmen then attacked one of the biggest Clerical winterquarters, home to approximately 15,000 Clerics, and swifly broke through the defenses and killed or captured at least 10,000 Clerics.
A few days later a Portuzian army of 3290 soldiers, one of which was Prince Samandiriel, was ambushed by Clerics led by Archbisshop Berteram the Slaughterer and almost all of them were captured, only Samandiriel and a few of his companions managed to escape. Berteram the Slaughterer then slaughtered all of his captives, stating that they were demons sent by the heretic pope, the antichrist.
3123 soldiers were executed, another almost 100 soldiers died in battle and only a mere 17 soldiers were confirmed to escape.
This wasn't the first time Archbisshop Berteram slaughtered thousands of people, and it wasn't even his most famous slaughter, as he had slaughtered tenthousands of rebelling peasants 30 years prior.
One of the few escaped soldiers was Prince Samandiriel, second son of king Berteram, who managed to flee southwards were he joined the remaining Portuzian armies.
Fearing Berteram the Portuzian armies fled to the coastal hills southwards altough they had higher chances of winning a battle against the Clerics in open terrain, giving the Clerics the initiative once more.
The following days the morale dropped, but at the 2nd of May the northern Portuzian army, backed by an even bigger Bevisian army arrived in Portuzia, giving the Portuzians both a numerical and technological advance over their enemies.
On the 15th of May the Portuzians and Bevisians engaged in combat with the Clerics in the Battle of Axminster, after the battle the Clerical army was decimated once more, and the Central-Ilandian states were completely ruined by the loss of most of their armies and high ranking nobles.
Priest Humphredus of Illevaville, the instigator of the conflict, fled to the Abbey of Axminster together with his most loyal men after the battle, where they were attacked by the forces of Prince Samandiriel. Humphredus died in battle, he was beheaded by Prince Samandiriel. His death marked the end of the religious facet of the First Clerical War
The rememnants of the Clerical army collapsed shortly after as the religious soldiers were disappointed and the nobles had to defend their homelands against the Portuzian and Bevisian forces.
The Bevisians and Portuzians proceeded to invade the Central Ilandian kingdoms, and none of these (except for Forviria) were in a state to resist a lot, clearing the way for Portuzia to conquer all of the Central Ilandian kingdoms in mere months.
On the 17th of July all the Central Ilandian kingdoms involved in the First Clerical War officially capitulated after the Portuzians staged a coup against all of these kings with the help of the nobles the same day. The old king of Mirans, Archibald let his only child, his daughter Isebalde of Gandogoa, marry Bardolf III's son, Prince Siegfried of Enceron, which was almost the same as giving away his kingdom.
Intermediate War (Part of the First Clerical War)
The king of Bevisia, Viktor V, Bardolf III's most important ally in the war and additionally the most powerful monarch of Ilandia, saw the rise of a new, more powerful, dynasty, unable to do anything against it.
But then Viktor V realised he could do a thing against it, he could use his military might to sabotage Bardolf III, who did not expect a thing. Viktor then declared war on Bardolf III on the 31th of July, and their soldiers became enemies one day to another.
Viktor's initial plan, annihilating the Portuzian army of guard, mainly failed, altough they had killed hundreds of Portuzian soldiers the Portuzians were able to retreat and strike back.
But then the Central Ilandian lords, who earlier had sided with the Portuzians against the king, revolted against the Portuzians and proclaimed independence.
In Mirans Archbisshop Berteram of Cascantum revolted against the pro-Portuzian king Archibald, his stepnephew, opening a new front against Bardolf III.
Viktor however had overlooked the influence the pope had on his subjects, when the Pope excommunicated all the Christians in Bevisia the Christians, many of which were high ranking nobles or armymen, started rebelling against Victor V's reign.
On the 21th of August both sides met each other near Hatbury, sparking the Battle of Hatbury.
Initially the Portuzians were losing the Battle of Hatbury after a Bevisian cavalry charge had ripped apart the Portuzian army, but then Prince Samandiriel of Portuzia carelessly attacked the Bevisians in the front with his men, and as the Bevisians did not expect this they suffered heavy losses and were forced to retreat once more.
The Portuzians had suffered heavy losses though, and altough the Bevisians had retreated it was merely a phirric victory.
Yet the Portuzians advanced, led by Samandiriel.
Three days later the two armies met once more, the Portuzian army led by Prince Samandiriel, who was proclaimed hero of the kingdom and the Bevisian army led by Prince Kelemen of Bevisia, and they fought some skirmishes but no side directly attacked the other. Both sides fortified their positions but no attack was made for a week; both sides waited for reinforcements.
The battle appeared to be merely a question of who would receive reinforcements the first.
The Portuzian reinforcements arrived at the 2nd of September, too late it appeared, their presence was no longer needed as Samandiriel had already defeated the Bevisian army and their reinforcements on his own, the Bevisian military was crumbling, Prince Kelemen, the only heir to the Bevisian throne, had died in battle, pierced by a spear.
The Prince then went home, to his palace in Dugusto, and gave up his authority over the army, the Central Ilandian kingdoms were copmletely subjugated and he had done his duty.
The army then split, 47,300 men were going to suppress the rapidly spreading uprise in Mirans and another 22,650 men proceeded to invade Bevisia, thinking there wouldn't be too much resistance and a lot of local help.
Altough the army invading Bevisia suffered heavy losses in the highland of Bevisia, mainly because of cold weather and not because enemy attacks, they reached Beviz in only two weeks, in Beviz they joined forces with the rebelling Catholic nobles, and together they besieged Beviz and starved the city.
King Viktor V committed suicide without a male heir, and only his twelve year old daughter, Princess Roberta of Maga, survived.
The Portuzians then established a temperoral military dictatorship over the country until Roberta married or came to age, and they brought Roberta to Dugusto where she married the 31 year old Prince Samandiriel, making him king of Bevisia.
Bevisia had collapsed to the Portuzians.
In Mirans the situation was more complicated, the Portuzian-Miranese army was severly outnumbered by the army of Berteram the Slaughterer as he used the last of his fortune to assemble an enormous army of mercenaries, and the defeated Clerics also came together under his banner.
It was 64,400 Portuzians and Miranese against the 96,000 men of Berteram, altough Berteram's men were trained mercenaries the Portuzian army was hardened after years of civil war, they were in addition more disciplined and better organised.
Yet it would be a hard battle against Berteram, if not Bardolf III bribed the mercenaries to betray Berteram, which they did in the Battle of Migava Bridge at the 5th of October, in which they completely annihilated Berteram's forces, forcing his remaining forces to flee to the impregnable, almost mythical, Rainwa Castle.
Rainwa Castle was
621 - 784
Type
Geopolitical, Kingdom
Alternative Names
Kingdom of Portuzia and Framton
Demonym
Portuzian
Location
- King Bardolf II
- King Bardolf III
- King Siegfried
- King Willibrord
- King
Remove these ads. Join the Worldbuilders Guild
Comments