Guerras

Kingdom of Östlichreich

Ottmar, son of Boris VI (Executed in 1426)

Mattias, son of Boris VII (Executed in 1426)

Ralf, son of Boris VII

Ingomar of Kurmond

Mattias of Polsen (Executed in 1426)

Hugo of Ostenberg

Ortwin of Lindburg

Severin of Camburg

Georg of Fallen

Ottmar of Rurhland (Executed in 1426)

Timo of Kamenland

Ralf of Glashruhe

Robert of Neuhügel

Wenzel of Abend

Origins of the conflict
King Boris VII died in 1406. His eldest son, Ottmar, became king shortly after. The Staatskongress, a council of the eleven dukes of the kingdom met in early 1407 to choose a bride for the new king. There were several candidates and each duke proposed at least two. However, Ottmar had already chosen Pauline of Kurmond, daughter of the Duke of Kurmond. At the time, she had a secret relationship with Ottmar's youngest brother, Ralf, but was forced by his father to marry the king. The couple married that year, despite rumours of her non-virginity.

Pauline was not attracted to her husband, who was twelve years older than her,and instead chose to continue her secret relationship with Ralf. Three months after the wedding, she gave birth to her first son, Manfried. In total, she gave birth to four more children: Detlev, Maximiliane, Gisela and Joachim.

Ottmar's reign was peaceful, until 1415. The country suffered a large droughts in 1415 and 1416, ruining the crops. There were major shortages and the inability of the king to buy wheat, cereals and cattle, ended in The Great Famine of 1416-1418. Dukes began to avoid paying taxes to the central government, which began to be unable to pay salaries to the army. In the hinterland, large bands of geächteten were organized and ducats were often sacked and ravaged, increasing discontent with the king. In 1420, Ottmar gathered the Staatskongress, concerned about the increasing number of dukes recruiting armies. The king offered an "official pardon" for everyone (because recruiting without king's permission was considered treason) and asked for the return of the status quo and the payment of taxes. The dukes pointed out that the armies were necessary to keep the peace and that the central goverment could not to protect its subjects and, due to the famine, they weren't in position to pay taxes.

The situation was in a deadlock and the king failed to achieve a compromise, mostly because he saw the dukes as traitors and feared their increasing power. His brother Mattias, duke of Polsen, raised out and spoke against him. He pointed out that he was only thinking in his well-being and that he was trying to reduce the dukes' power by reducing their armies and making them pay high taxes. Ottmar threatened to prosecute him for "high treason" and Mattias threatened to declare him mad and relive him from the throne. He argued that "he was a weak king with a weaker sucession", beacus none of Ottmar's children were his. Mattias' statement caused outrage, but the king denied it. The duke, then, called Ralf and Pauline to declare in front of the kongress. When asked, both denied the charge of adultery and supported Maël. Mattias then called Gisela, Ottmar's supposedy daughter. He asked Ralf to kiss her, to prove that they weren't father and daughter, but he refused three times. This nearly confirmed the long-term rumours and weakened Ottmar's power.

The kingwas furious and imprisoned both Pauline and Ralf and closed the kongress. Mattias left the capital with the rest of the dukes and was elected king. He then sent a letter to Maël to abdicate and "avoid a bloodbath between our peoples". The king refused and declared Judoc "traitor to the crown" and called everyone in the kingdom to fight him. The duke and his allies raised an army of 6,000 men and marched toward the capital, beginning the Östlichreich's Civil War.

Civil War
Ottmar was quickly surrounded by enemies, since Judoc promised a less autocratic government and the king was viewed as a scapegoat. However, the first battle was on 14 August 1421, almost a year after the insurecction. Against all odds, Ottmar's forces won in the Battle of Jalk and advanced towards Polsen. The rebels forces went back to the hinterland and joined Duke's Severin of Camburg forces. The joint armies defeated the royalists on 13 September and avoided a siege of the ducat's capital.

On 6 October, the rebels defeated the King's army again and forced them to withdraw from the ducat. While retreating, they were attacked by Ingomar of Kurmond and Mattias called for a "total revolt" against the king. Dukes of Ostenberg, Lindburg and Camburg refused and officialy supported the king, while the rest of the country raised their armies to fight. Robert of Neuhügel defeated Ottmar's troops at the Battle of Seven Crosses on 20 December and opened the gate to the kingdom's capital. Meanwhile, the royalists were suffering defeat after defeat and their ducats were occupied. Mattias stated that he would pardon all of them, if they joined the fight and supported him. The dukes agreed and turned their armies to Ottmar. The king, seeing an army of more than 15,000 men near his palace, fled out with his council and his children, leaving 2,000 men to defend the city and exiled himself in the Kingdom of Maasland.

Mattias entered the capital on March and was declared King of Östlichreich on 2 April, 1422. He removed the old prohibition to the dukes of raising armies and cut the taxes by a half, by also creating a compromise to increase them in case of need. Mattias also released Ralf and Pauline from prision, but before made them admit their sins in front of entire kongress, humiliating them, and after gave them a royal pardon and gave him the title of Prince of Glashruhe, thus revoking his previous duke title, as reprisal.

In Maasland, Ottmar begged for King's Josef aid, who was initially reluctant. Ottmar said that his brother was going to broke every alliance and that he was preparing to invade the kingdom soon. Josef's advisors convinced him about the convenience of a loyal king in the neighbor country, as a form of finally subyugate them. However, Josef didn't believe in Ottmar promises of an anual tribute once restored, but he was his best candidate as legitimate ruler.

Maasland's forces crossed the borders in 1424 and started a quick campaign, taking Kurmod, Lindburg and Kamenland. Mattias raised his armies and those of the dukes and made himself commander in chief. Despite his inital victory at the Battle of Musgrane Forest on 12 July, he suffered a series of harsh defeats who made him surrender half of the country by 1425. Ottmar was ready to recover his throne and crush the dukes, but Josef's forces began to dug in the ocuppy territory. He said that winter was too harsh for his men to march through the hinterland and paused the campaing until the spring. Ottmar was suspicious, but he accepted the terms as he depended on Josef's men to recover his throne.

On June, Mattias summoned a GroßerKongress, the first of its kind in more than a century and asked everyone to resist the invasion and fight the enemy. The dukes said that they were already doing a huge effort and that their subjects were suffering and the situation was worse than under Ottmar's rule. Taking advantage of the momentary pause in the war, sent his armies to fight the rebel dukes and collect taxes. Mattias occupied Abend and besieged Neuhügel, but when the war restarted, he was forced to leave and marched to Rurhmow. On 1 December, Maasland's forces defeated Mattias at the Battle of Tamberg Monastery and put siege on Rurhmow. The city suffered from famine and crime was rampant. A mob attacked the Gelb Palace on 21 February and imprisioned Mattias and his family and opened the gates to Ottmar and Josef and both made their triumphal entry into Rurhmow. A day later, he was crowned again King of Östlichreich. Negotiations began quickly between Ottmar and Josef. The restored king needed his support to defend his position, while Josef wanted compensations for the costly war. Josef desired to annex the conquered territories, but Ottmar refused. Finally they agreed to give those ducats to Maasland noblemen and made them subjects to both crowns. Ottmar also married Josef's daugther Thora and ended his marriage with Pauline.

Ottmar executed Mattias and his family on 12 March, 1426 and later began to execute his former enemies, specially those who were replaced as dukes and threatened the rest with the same if they do not swore loyalty for him. Dukes and noblemen saw Ottmar rule and actions a threat to the country independence and a humiliation. Thus, they began plotting against the king and his Maasland court and allies. With the execution of Mattias, the other legitimate ruler was Ralf, prince of Glashruhe. Ralf wasn't sure about the plan, as his supporters were the same which repudiated him and Pauline four years before. However, he spoke against his brother, saying that he gave half of the country to a foreign country and allowed an invasion, which was high treason. The dukes proclaimed him "Protector of the easterns" and stormed the capital.

He imprisoned Ottmar and his family and he and Pauline were crowned king and queen on 30 May. He left the city to command his troops against the Maasland-ruled ducats. Thanks to the rapid movement of troops and their knowledge of the territory, he was able to regain almost full control by the end of the year. On his abscence, Mattias, Thora and their kid were hanged, despite Ralf intention to keep them imprisoned. The execution of Thora and the murders of hundreds of Maaslanders during the campaign, made impossible any negotiation with Josef, who declared war on January 1427.

Josef allied with the Free Knights, promising them the east bank of the river Saäl and proceeded to invade the Östlichreich on March 1427. His initial thoughts were to punish the easterners and expand his territory but later, seeming that if he could defeat Ralf, then he could become king of all the Östlichreich and decided to march towards Rurhmow in order to take the throne. Although the invasion was successful from both north and east, Josef was stopped at Malken, a small city located 200 kilometres from the capital. There he established his military camp and prepared from winter. Another Maasland regiment marched from south and failed to get Neuhügel, but put the city on a long siege that would last until february 1428, when it surrendered.

Maasland's troops advanced towards Rurhmow on March, ravaging the lands, destroying towns and killing and raping almost all the population they encountered. Eastern forces under Lenz Katz came to reinforce the city of Brotzburg and fortified it. Josef's troops besieged the city a month later. Ralf asked Katz to resist as long as he could, while he returned from his expedition. He found a lot of turmoil and conspiracies in Rurhmow, but he got the confidence of the dukes, but he knew that most of them would betray him if the war seemed lost. He ordered a scorched earth campaing, fortified the zone around the capital and gave up most of the northern's and nortwest's ducats.

As Östlichreich's troops withdrew, Free Kights' armies began to enter more and more deep into the territory. This caused a stretch on their supply lines which, added to the torched earth policy, left them defenseless and weak, allowing Ralf's mercenaries to begin their guerrilla warfare. Östlichreich's troops were quickly concentrated in the center of the country, while the irregulars forces were the only ones harassing the enemies.

Ralf's plans worked, but it caused too much suffering and devastated half of the country. This led to increasing upset among the population and it torched plots against the king.

1427-1429

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