(Winter Pretender)
-this chapter will include some warfare but there isn’t as much on the ground detailing as one may like, mostly because this episode was a footnote in historical sources.
-also there is some weird time constraints which is why a certain thing will take years to resolve even though it could’ve been the same 12 months (and for me, the same month).
In Sieradz, Poland…there was Siemowit. He stood at twice Maria’s height as a slender man. He had dirty blonde hair and pale skin. He wore a bright red coat and pants which had gold buttons and accents. He was 32. A silver eagle sat on his shoulder, the familiar of the Piast family. He stood before a congregation of people in a church. They were the other dukes in Mazovia, Kujawy, Wielkopolska and Naderspan of Ruthenia with the largest party being the Nałęcz Clan. They were at the end of mass hosted by Poland’s highest priest Archbishop Bodzanta. And now he was announcing the candidacy of Siemowit to be the next king. “He is a Piast and his ascension would bring Mazovia closer in union with the rest of Poland. As of right now, the duchy is basically a vassal owning its suzerainty to King Kasimir and King Lajos. Excluding Silesia, nearly all of Poland will be reunited under a singular king.” The people clapped and cheered. Then Bodzanta continued, “we simply need Elizabeta, the Queen Dowager, to deliver the Crown of Poland and one of her daughters to Siemowit. The Luxembourgs in Bohemia, which sits over Silesia, are already our antagonists so we should prepare to strike them. Then we are so back!” The people cheered louder. Siemowit looked out a window with a somber thought. I hope the Queen doesn’t hate me, I’ve only met her once.
In Zadar, Dalmatia…there was Carlo Durazzo. He was not allowed to stay in Buda, by the Palatine, so he stayed in the very edge of the Kingdom of Hungary. He was treated kindly by the Croat lords who he used to rule over in his youth, and he was still able to rule Naples from here. He sat on the balcony of a resort looking at the Adriatic Sea eating some pasta and drinking some wine. A servant came to him, “Sire, it looks like Duke Louis, your cousin from Provence, is coming to attack Naples. The Antipope Clement sent him forth since he is also Anjou.”
“Ah my distant cousin, both geographically and on the tree. Do we still have that marauder Acuto on payroll?”
“Yes sir.”
“Alright well give him the resources necessary to fend them off. It’ll be some time for me to get there. Should I finish things in Hungary first…?”
Ban Ivan Horvat of Macva was going around with his brother Bishop Pavao Horvat in the countryside of Hungary to collect more allies. Pavao used his church in Zagreb as a headquarters for the supporters of Durazzo. Pavao was also parceling some clergy territory to raise money for his cousin, Ivan Palinza, the self made Ban of Croatia. Istvan Lackfi also aided their efforts for finding allies along with plenty of forces. And as for King Tvrtko Kotromanic of Bosnia, cousin of Queen Elizabeta, he took to conquer rich coastal cities that Hungary had control over on the Adriatic Coast. One of the biggest was Kotor adding to Bosnia’s growing wealth. And with Lajos dead, Tvrtko had been able to show greater authority over the Serbian princes such as the Brankovics and Lazarevics.
Now in Pest, Hungary…the armies had gathered. They were ready to march over to Poland on this great day. They packed lots of fur clothing for the colder winter and plenty of food including extra kifli baskets for Sigismund. The Queen Dowager looked over the armies from a hilltop. She held her two daughters’ hands. The Palatine was to the side. Voivode Ladislaus Losonci landed before the Queen. “Well we are just about to go. We will travel slow to get to Krakow in 10 days. At that point, you can start coming over to demonstrate authority. It would take you 5 days and we would have won Krakow by then. But the Siemowit party operates from Sierdez so that will have to be the next stop if we don’t chase him into Mazovia as well.”
“Okay, all good to hear. Is there tension with Sigismund?”
“No, he just wants to go first but he understands I hold authority in the battlefield. And to clarify the plans of occupation, which region should go to whom?”
“Your captain Stibor should take Kujawy while you can leave Sigismund in Wielkopolska. I will contend with Naderspan personally and then your brother can watch over Krakow if I need you to push deeper into Poland.”
“Alright. Thank you Queen.” and he flew away.
Bye bye Sigi, Maria whispered.
For every military, there is a hierarchy. At the head of a unit would be a captain, then above him a commander at the head of multiple units, next up a lieutenant, and finally a general of a whole army if not a vice-general. Then, there may be a Captain-General at the head of the entire military if the king is disposed.
Altogether, the Hungarian army was a force of 40,000 men. The Anjou half was commanded by Commander Baron Csak (of 4000), the Losonci brothers (the General Voivode leading 10,000 Saxon-Magyars and the Vice-General Count leading 2500 Skeleys), and Captain Stibor (running with 500 calvary).
Then the Luxembourg half was commanded by General Margrave Sigismund (6000), Vice-General Emperor-King Wenzel (6000), Captain Duke Jan (1000), Commander Margrave Prokop (3000), and Commander Margrave Jobst (7000). “Cousin, what the fuck?” Wenzel asked. “I only ordered as much as my brother so as to not grandstand him.”
“He’s cheating, Moravia only has 6000 troops that we split evenly,” Prokop accused.
“Well I simply rushed my servants to Brandenburg to recruit some volunteers but some of the counts didn’t mind joining.”
“Insane,” Sigismund muttered.
So the Luxembourg had a total of 23k and the Anjou had a total of 17k for a grand total of 40k. About 90% were infantry who held pikes as regular of European belligerence. Some of the mercenaries did like to brandish their own weapons such as axes, swords, and maces. The calvary were all heavy plated knights which would slow them down during the commute to battle but keep them as tanky shock units in battle. A few siege weapons such as battering rams were made for this but the armies were more likely to rely on their magical commanders for breaking through any walls.
In Sigismund’s specific army, Wenzel convinced him to make his people officers in certain terms. Tamasi the Hermit, Maroti the Goldsmith (who has not returned from Ireland yet), Baron Szeci, Count Kurjakovic, Alsani the Alchemist, and Pippo the Economist were a part of Sigismund’s core team. Meanwhile, Captain James led his 100 archers. They were programmed to be the rearguard and to act as snipers rather than just raining arrows on Poland’s own armored forces. The Szcesi sons were both captains of 1500 men each. The Szecsenyi Brothers were both captains of 1000 men each. Besenyo was of course already captain of his 600 mercenaries along with Perenyi leading his 250 knights. The core team would be used to delegate orders and tasks and had Sigismund’s authority over the captains and so he had to pay them a higher salary. But the captains themselves were also paid a higher salary than originally started. Still, the money flowed for now.
16 years old, the redheaded and broad shouldered Sigismund gave a big stretch and yawned as the sun still rose over his head. He wore heavy and multiple layers of fur in his family’s colors of blue and white. “Can we get started already?”
“We are about to go,” Jan stated.
“Ah man, look at those woods over there, that’s where me and Maria used to go hunting.”
“Stop talking about her.”
“Loser.”
“You’re a loser!”
A bird came down and landed on Szeci’s arm. It spoke to him. Then he pointed his wand at the bird and it flew away, back north. “Margrave, my spy network in Krakow has reached 20% capacity. There’s actually only 2500 troops held by Siemowit there so a chase to Sieradz will be necessary.”
“Oh okay. Hey Pippo, tell Jobst to do Plan B. But Poznan has a pretty crazy castle as well, right?” And so Jobst would depart separately from them.
“It’ll be fine, especially if you get the voivode to follow us in waves,” Szeci responded.
“Okay but I wanna go!”
“The priests are still praying over the troops…asking for St. George’s help…and God’s forgiveness…”
tdwriter 