Part 12: Two Kings 1215-1222

With Norway under our control, there are several things we can do to make our hold on it a little more stable. First, we initiate some plots to revoke titles held by any Norwegian or Saxon lords so that we can reassign Irishmen to those counties.



I also start moving Norway towards higher crown authority so that eventually Primogeniture can be enacted as that crown's succession law.



Any Norwegian counts who are foolish enough to rebel are conquered, imprisoned, and have their title revoked.



Finally, after so long, Dublin converts from Norwegian to Irish culture. It either flipped to Norwegian culture early in the game while controlled by a Norwegian count, or maybe it just started that way.



We discover a plot by another Norwegian count to lower crown authority in the kingdom. This is a good opportunity to draw out some troublemakers. If we can get them to rebel, we'll be able to revoke their titles and replace them with Irish nobles as well.




We have her arrested for her role in the plot and then ransom her freedom. This is an attempt by me to provoke her into rebellion.



I'm not exactly sure what this Norwegian count did, but apparently he is a traitor and we can revoke his title without objection from our other vassals.



Rather than deal with another war, I try to just arrest him. Our marshal is sent to his county to improve our imprisonment chance.




He is locked away, and his county title is revoked.



A Norwegian Duke raises arms against us, but none of the others join his rebellion.




His lone county isn't really capable of putting up any sort of fight. Once he is defeated, we revoke his duchy as well as his county, which nets me a small tyranny opinion penalty. This doesn't bring our Irish vassals anywhere near negative opinion, but the Norwegian lords all gain a small revolt risk from this. I probably shouldn't be this careless with the opinions of my vassals, but I wanted to give it a try.



We go to war with Scotland once more to press claims that our chancellor had fabricated on two counties.




The war doesn't last long, and the Scottish King surrenders those counties to us. This allows us to usurp the Duchy of Lothian, which we assign to a kinsman.



In Ireland, we push to have Free Investiture enacted. This will improve the opinions of both our bishops and our vassals who have bishops towards us. The only downside is the opinion malus with the Pope.



The more I deal with it, the more I realize that I simply don't have any desire to struggle with running Norway. If I fight a war against England to press a claim on Norwegian de jure land, then I'll be in a truce and unable to press claims against the English on British soil. I have more vassals to deal with, more distance to travel from my home demesne to ferry troops to defend my borders, and all sorts of extra bureaucracy to deal with.

Rather than continue to do so, I place a strong kinsman in charge of a Norwegian duchy and begin grooming him to be the next Norwegian King. First, I start granting him titles to any Norwegian counties still directly in my demesne.



Next, I begin transferring vassalage of any Counts to him who hold the titles to de jure Norwegian territory.



Finally, once everything else is in order, I grant him the title of King of Norway.



Now we have an Ua Briain on the throne of another kingdom. I'm hoping that the large personal demesne I left him with will help him recover any other de jure Norwegian territory on his own.



Now, we can focus on more regional issues once again. During that transition of power, the Duchy of Gwynedd was inherited by a vassal within the Holy Roman Empire, which is just a slightly annoying turn of events.



Enough of the de jure land of Scotland is within our realm now that we can usurp the kingdom title. The only reason I didn't take it earlier was because the Scottish King was in a war, and you can't usurp the title of a character who is currently involved in a war.



This allows us to pursue de jure claims on any Scottish land. We start by taking Gowrie from an independent Scottish Duke.



The last remnants of Scotland after this war are just two separate independent counties, one of which being the former Scottish King. Our new holdings are handed off to Irish nobles and occasionally to our own kinsmen.



The extent of Irish territory as of 1222.



The current borders of Ua Briain controlled Norway.



The first invaders of the Ilkhanate arrive in eastern Persia.