Part 23: Prince Gilla-Coluim Moves to Egypt 1344 - 1352

The crusade against Egypt leaves us in control of several churches and towns. We hand all of them off to avoid the wrong holding type penalty.




The Duchy of Aswan is handed off to our brilliant marshal whom we've tied to our house through marriage.



With all of the de jure territory of Egypt under our control, we can freely usurp any titles still in the hands of the Caliph. We usurp the Kingdom of Egypt and the Duchies of Cairo and Alexandria.



The Duchies of Alexandria and Cairo have far too many extra castle holdings for our son to manage, so we create new vassals for some of them just as with towns or churches. We hold onto an extra castle in both Cairo and Alexandria, giving us a total of 11 castle holdings in the two Duchies.



Both of the Duchies and all of their free holdings are transferred to the control of our son, Prince Gilla-Coluim. This region will take some time to integrate into our realm with the penalties for holding different religion and different culture counties, but after a few decades they'll fade.



We declare war on the Duke of Oxford to press our claim on Northampton. Our forces advance on all of the Duke's territory at once, leaving him nowhere to go.



King Brian's health begins to fail him while on the campaign. He spends much of his time weak and bedridden.



This takes a toll on all of his Kingly duties.



The armies of Ireland force the Duke of Oxford's surrender and we seize his county of Northampton. This allows us to usurp his Duchy title as well, leaving him the count of a single county.



King Brian's wife, Queen Pribislava passes away peacefully at the age of 61.



The former Duke of Oxford remains in the county of Oxford. With the count of Bedford an independent count now though, we can deal with him separately.



The Count of Bedford is actually a member of our family from the Norwegian branch. He is a bit harsh, but extremely talented. And more importantly - he thinks quite highly of us. A small gift caps his relations out with King Brian.




There is no warfare needed to bring the Count of Bedford under our control. All we had to do was offer him vassalization.



The only counties on the Brish Isles that remain outside of our control now are the county of Oxford and the final holding of the Holy Roman Empire in in the Duchy of Gwynedd.



King Brian's health continues to fail. In his advanced age and failing health he now begins to lose his mind.



Brian is now unable to handle the day to day affairs of the realm, and requires a regent to act in his stead.



Prince Gilla-Coluim returns from Cairo to handle his father's affairs for now.



Prince Gilla-Coluim notices that heresy has spread in England and Scotland. This Waldensian Duke has managed to grow powerful inside of our Catholic realm and ruled over Norfolk, Nothumberland, and Somerset. The Prince attempts to revoke his titles so they can be given to Irish catholic kinsmen, but the Duke rises up in arms when word reaches him.



Meanwhile in Cairo, our chaplain has some success at spreading Catholicism in the region.



Duke Mathieu's forces crumble to the Irish armies and he is jailed.



Not only is Mathieu a heretic, but he's a Frank and not even a member of our dynasty.



There is one good thing about this, though. Since he is a heretic, we can revoke each and every single title that he owns without angering our other vassals. Since he is a heretic, they don't care. Once we have seized all of his holdings, we re-assign them as three separate Duchies to various Irish Catholic family members.



Our attempts at conversion see continued success in Egypt.



King Brian II's health finally fails him at the age of 76, and Prince Gilla-Coluim succeeds him as King.



The Duke of Aswan immediately revolts upon Brian's death. He didn't think this through very clearly, though. He's suffering from so much internal strife being the lord of a newly conquered crusade target that he's unable to raise any men to his cause. Our troops from Jerusalem march on his duchy to end his rebellion.



Prince Gilla-Coluim misses his time spent in Cairo and decides to move his capital and his court back to the conquered capital of Egypt.



In order to do so though, we need to hand off our holdings at home to a trusted vassal. Our demesne is simply too small to hold everything. The Dukes of Connacht and Leinster have been loyal and reliable for centuries, so our homeland holdings are divided between them.



Much to the dismay of many of our distant dukes of the British Isles, the court moves to Cairo with Prince Gilla-Coluim where he reigns as King of Egypt.



The Duke of Moray is the first to fight for independence from his distant King.



the Duke of Galloway joins him soon thereafter. Our local forces rally and march against the northern traitors.



Once are armies are in the north though, the southern dukes rise against us as well starting with the Duke of York.



So many lords rebel against us at once that our armies are spread thin. We finally settle on leaving just enough men behind to siege while our larger forces chase the rebel Duke's armies across the countryside and force field battles.



The situation is so messy that we don't have time to fully occupy our opponents and force complete surrender. Instead, we seek white peaces with our rebellious dukes, allowing them to resign with their dignity intact.



Once the Duke of Aswan makes peace with us, the forces of Jerusalem board ships and travel to the British Isles to lend aid.



As some wars come to a close, others begin. The Duke of Lancaster joins his fellows in their rebellions.



Albany is brought back under our control, but more rebellions still rage across the Isle.



Our Dukes of Ireland remain true while treason sweeps through England and Scotland. The Duke of Lothian and the Isles, the Duke of York, the Duke of Lancaster, and the Duke of Bedford all still remain hostile with us.



The Irish culture begins spreading to Egypt along with our Catholicism as significant numbers of men from our old homeland are brought to our new one.



The King proudly announces the birth of his first son during this time of troubles.



Eventually, the rebellions which at first seemed insurmountable are beginning to crumble. This was by far the worst succession crisis I've had during this Ua Briain game, and it was only made worse by moving out capital halfway across the world.



While the Duke of Bedford wavers in the south, the Duke of Lancaster comes under assault as well.



The Duke of Northumberland seems like he should have revolted as well, considering that his revolt risks is over 100%. He never does, though. We grant him an honorary title and gift him some gold, which brings his revolt risk down into the low double digits.



Our personal demesne is can hardly raise any men at this point, since Egypt is still freshly conquered. Our vassals are beginning to warm to us, though and we can call on a surprising number of men from them by the end of the rebellions.



Once the final rebellion is crushed, King Gilla-Coluim graciously releases all prisoners taken during the fighting with a blanket pardon. A grand tournament is to be held in Cairo where any remaining tempers can be exercised in contests.



The tournament ends, which is always a good thing. Our vassals return home happier and more content.



After the tournament, we press our claim on the county of Oxford and bring it into our realm. Irish Egypt now needs only one county in order to achieve my ambition for pretty borders.